Govt plans to open 7000h of conservation land to mining

The Government is proposing to open up more than 7000 hectares of conservation land for mining on Coromandel, and Paparoa National Park on the West Coast.

Other areas, including parts of Northland and Rakiura National Park on Stewart Island will be prospected over the next nine months.

Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said mining is an "emotive issue" but said he hoped a debate could now take place and the Government could not ignore the $194 billion worth of minerals on Conservation land.

"We now have the parameters for a constructive discussion about the role mining might play in helping grow the economy and the value of our exports to help improve living standards for New Zealanders," Brownlee said.

"Today the government is suggesting allowing potential access, with appropriate environmental mitigation, to a small percentage of that resource," he said.

He said the 7000 hectares is far less than the numbers quoted by environment lobby groups, such as Forest and Bird.

Forest and Bird said leaked information showed the Government had planned to remove half a million hectares from schedule four but, fearing a public backlash, had trimmed it down to 7000ha.

As a sweetener, Brownlee said a further 12,400 ha would be added to Schedule Four, protecting it from future mining.

He also said a contestable environment fund would be set up that will include 50 per cent of the royalty revenues from minerals excluding oil and will be capped at $10m a year.

Forest & Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell said protecting more land did not make up for opening other areas to mining.

"These areas - which include national park additions, Hauraki Gulf islands and marine reserves - are simply areas that have been waiting for official protection since the last review in 2008.

"They should not be seen as trade-offs for high-value conservation land being removed from Schedule 4 because none of the expected 12,000 hectares has significant mining potential."

The Government last year did a stocktake of minerals in the conservation estate, with the intention of taking parts of it out of the schedule in the Crown Minerals Act that protects it from mining.

Parts of today's discussion paper had been leaked earlier this month.

Environment lobby groups, including Forest and Bird, have said the Government had previously had plans to remove half a million hectares from the schedule four but, fearing a public backlash, had trimmed it down to 7000ha.

Prime Minister John Key has called concerns raised by Forest and Bird as "scaremongering". He has also said there has been too much "hysteria" in the media.

He said last week that it was important to balance economic opportunities and the environmental responsibilities in mining in other areas.

Key said this was not a matter of "absolutes- yes or no to mining," adding that some concessions had already been made in the past.

The Government has put the value of minerals in conservation land at about $140 billion.

State Services Commissioner Ian Rennie has announced that there will be an investigation into how the document was leaked.

Public submissions on the plans close at 5pm on Tuesday, May 4.