Mining hypocrisy slammed by hapu

Ngati Rehua says it's hypocritical that the Government wants to re-establish mining on Great Barrier when they've only talked to the tribe about conservation values during Treaty negotiations.

The chairman of the hapu's trust, Rawiri Wharemate, said the tribe is annoyed the Crown has pushed a case for maintaining the Department of Conservation estate, but now want to remove Schedule Four conservation protection from the 705ha Te Ahumata Plateau to exploit potential gold and silver deposits.

"You bargain in good faith. They've not spoken once about mining. What they have spoken about is DoC's principles of conservation - so it's very contradictory to hear from [Energy and Resources minister] Gerry Brownlee they want to open it up for blinking mining."

DoC owns more than 60 per cent of the land on behalf of the public, but Mr Wharemate said it had been hard work securing any of that in their deal because of the conservation value.

Asked if the issue could derail negotiations, Mr Wharemate said the hapu would be reassessing its negotiations strategy.

The hapu is likely to meet this weekend to discuss the proposal and while many hapu members are against mining, they will keep an open mind about the potential economic benefits, worth an estimated $4.3 billion.

"Personally, I don't see much changing because our role is to look after this whenua."

A spokesman for Treaty Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson said he and Mr Brownlee were planning to meet with Ngati Rehua as a matter of urgency.