"It was a really great afternoon."
People have until October 14 to make submissions on the TTR application, but Mrs Ngarewa-Packer said large parts of the application information have been blacked out, which made the process more difficult.
She had dealt with lots of mining and prospecting applications, and had never seen so much redaction.
The company is required to provide a cultural impact assessment as part of the application. It got that from a former Ngai Tahu CEO, rather than from her own iwi which would be directly affected.
A TTR spokeswoman said the company had attempted to engage the iwi, to no avail. It had even paid the costs of Ngāti Ruanui's appeal on the first application as a gesture of goodwill.
Mrs Ngarewa-Packer said TTR had been difficult to deal with. She feared the application would be approved.
She had the impression TTR shareholders were putting pressure on, and that the company was lobbying Government.
The EPA set no conditions when it declined TTR's last application. This time all the four chosen for the Decision Making Committee have Resource Management Act experience, and would be able to set conditions.
The only difference she can see with the latest application is that conditions have been set to mitigate possible environmental damage.
Comment from TTR was sought, but not available by press time.