Govt will justify mining by protecting other land - Forest & Bird

Photo / Greg Bowker

The Government will try to justify mining in conservation land by putting other areas into protection when it announces its plans at 3pm, says Forest & Bird.

A long-awaited discussion document about opening up conservation land to mining is expected to be released in less than half an hour.

Conservation organisation Forest & Bird said the document was expected to announce that 12,000 hectares of conservation land and marine reserves would be added to Schedule 4 protection - areas that have been in the queue for addition since 2008.

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."

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee last year started a stocktake of minerals in the conservation estate, including those parts of it which are in schedule four of the Crown Minerals Act and are protected from mining.

The stocktake estimated the value of the minerals at a conservative $140 billion and Key said "significant" parts could have protection removed.

Since then 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.

It said the Government wanted to mine in three national parks, and in Parliament the Greens said a $4 million subsidy was in the pipeline for mining companies to prospect.