Email this page

"You can Act on this >> ")}

Conservation Minister, Sandra Lee, is considering whether to allow GDR Macraes Ltd to double the size of its proposed open cast gold mine (Globe Progress) in the Victoria Conservation Park, near Reefton.

In 1993 the then Minister of Conservation, Denis Marshall, consented to a mine involving the excavation of 60 million tonnes of ore and waste rock. Mining has yet to commence and it is uncertain whether the company has a valid access agreement with the Minister of Conservation, given the major changes to the proposal. GDR Macraes now wants to excavate around 120 million tonnes of ore and waste rock over 20 years.

The proposed mine would result in the clearance of more than 260 ha beech and beech/rimu forest in the North Westland Wildlife Corridor - the only forested link between the Paparoa Range and the Southern Alps. It would turn a hill into a 46 ha hole, and create huge and permanent toxic waste dumps in the conservation park.  The Crown would be liable for these after 2031, or even before, if GDR Macraes packs up and leaves.

Current proposals for insurance and an $8 million bond are inadequate to cover any likely future problems.  In Coromandel, more than $20 million has been spent trying to stabilise the tailings dam at  the troubled Golden Cross mine in the Waitekauri Valley. The tailing dams proposed at Reefton are twice the size of Golden Cross.

The proposed Globe mine would include two tailings “dams” covering 75 ha. The area is highly faulted and the Buller region has the most active seismic faults in the country, as well as very heavy rainfall. Subsidence or fracture in either dam would release contaminated tailings into the Inangahua and Buller River systems, which would be an ecological disaster. Acid seepage and contaminated run off from 152ha of waste rock stacks could also be a serious problem.

A burst tailings dam near Spain’s Guadalquivir River in 1996 caused serious damage to the Donana National Park and thousands of hectares of farmland. The collapse of a dam at a Romanian gold mine last year killed fish throughout the Danube River system.

Discharges from the mine processing plant into the Inangahua River and its tributaries will be contaminated with arsenic, antimony, sulphate, lead and copper. Sediment loss from the site would also affect aquatic life.

The mine’s impacts on waterways could extend well beyond the site. The extra power required means Trustpower is seriously considering a new hydro scheme on the Arnold River near Greymouth.  This proposal would flood the Card Creek Ecological Area.

Email this page

back to top