Straterra sees Greens as scaremongering on Mt Aspiring

Posted in: In the News: Wednesday, 02 December 2009

Straterra sees Greens as scaremongering on Mt Aspiring

NZResources.com - 2 December 2009

The resources lobby group Straterra has branded claims by the Green Party that the Mount Aspiring Park could be opened to mining as scaremongering.

Straterra’s chief executive Richard Michael Richard Michael said that the natural resources industry was committed to working to improve the living standards of all New Zealanders but not at the expense of the tourism industry or the country’s clean green image.

“The Green Party is scaremongering in this case,” he said.

“Straterra supported the Government’s decision to undertake a stocktake of mineral deposits on conservation land.

“It makes total sense for the Government and the public to have a full understanding of our country’s mineral wealth.”

Straterra said this stocktake was underway and a full and open process of public consultation will follow before any decisions are made.

“While it could be that some areas of Schedule 4 land of low conservation value may then be considered for its mineral potential, we are certainly not going to see mining in our high value conservation estate.”

On the Green Party website one of the party’s politicians Metiria Turei confirmed rumours that the Government was “considering removing mining protection from 20% of the Mt Aspiring National Park in the south west of the South Island.

“The rumble of Brownlee’s (Minister for Energy & Resources) bulldozers just get louder. Not only are Ministers planning to allow mining in our National Parks, but they are considering removing the protection against mining from large areas of them.”

She said Mt Aspiring National Park was the only known home for a carbonatite deposit in NZ, making it a “potential deposition zone for REEs (rare earth elements). There was, she said, several known mineral occurrences with showings of gold, chromium and nickel.

A check of websites show that Mt Aspiring itself would definitely be off the list of explorers, as this mountain – described as the Matterhorn of the South – is a tough ask for seasoned mountaineers let alone a miner with or without oxygen.