West Coast mining interests have pooled their money and appointed a senior QC to help them safeguard mining in the region.
A parliamentary select committee is considering submissions on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill under which, if passed, mining licences would not be renewed, possibly forcing mines to close.
The West
Coast Gold Miners Association has appointed Don Mathieson, a former Victoria University law professor, to "battle for their existence" in front of the select committee.
Executive director John Wood said the bill would make mining on the coast very expensive and could drive some mines out of business.
Fluctuating gold prices have meant a company with a 10-year licence may have mined only when prices made it profitable.
Under the amendment, a licence could not be renewed and a new one would have to be sought, which was an expensive process.
West Coast goldminers had now set up a fund to pay for Dr Mathieson's work, Wood said.
Problems arose four years ago when the Government gave the country's pounamu (greenstone) to Ngai Tahu as part of its treaty settlement with that tribe.
Some of the greenstone at the time "belonged" to miners with a right to renew their licence under the old Mining Act. To make good the Ngai Tahu settlement, Crown Minerals began refusing to renew mining licenses.
Former Kumara man Gerard Fahey, a director of greenstone company Glenharrow Holdings, took Crown Minerals to court over the practice and won a landmark decision in October 2000 when Justice Richard Heron restored the right to have licences renewed.
Not long after, Crown Minerals developed the amendment bill, which would overturn that decision.
The miners' group said the West Coast was the most affected by the proposed changes to the act.
Wood, who will present the case to the select committee next month, said the Minerals Industry Association had already appeared before the select committee.
It had been asked to come back with supplementary information on miners who had been affected.
The proposed amendment arose because Crown Minerals officials felt the 1991 act did not reflect the "policy intention" of the department.
But many West Coast miners felt it was a way to avoid interpreting the statute the way Justice Heron said it should.
Crown Minerals group manager Darryl Thorburn said yesterday that he was unable to comment while the select committee was hearing submissions.
- NZPA
