Being welcomed to the marae are Te Rarawa environmental manager Abe Witana (left), NRC CEO Malcolm Nicolson, Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis and Ngapuhi leader Rudy Taylor. Photo / John Stone
Being welcomed to the marae are Te Rarawa environmental manager Abe Witana (left), NRC CEO Malcolm Nicolson, Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis and Ngapuhi leader Rudy Taylor. Photo / John Stone
The Australian company whose plans to search for gold has inflamed the Puhipuhi community and anti-mining groups has applied for another exploration permit in Northland.
Evolution Mining wants a New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals (NZPM) permit to explore over 4,393 hectares south west of Kaeo in a proposed operation tobe known as Te Mata. The site was formerly subject to a permit held by Tai Tokerau Minerals Ltd, of which former Far North mayor Wayne Brown was a major shareholder. That permit was surrendered in August this year, and Evolution's is a new application process, a NZPM spokesman said.
Evolution announced on Friday it has applied for the Te Mata permit. Initial activities would probably involve surface mapping and a geophysical survey, Chief Geologist and Vice President of Discovery, Dr Roric Smith said.
The timeframe from start to any gold production would between five and 10 years or longer. If granted the permit, Evolution will carry out community consultation and environmental assessments.
An NZPM spokesman said any new permit would only be issued after an assessment of Evolution's community consultation programmes and financial situation. Evolution has had little luck at a community consultation level at Puhipuhi where it has just completed a low impact geophysical survey.
The company is voluntarily producing a baseline environmental monitoring programme for Puhipuhi which it intends sharing publicly, Dr Smith said. But Evolution is not getting the traction in the community to allow the company to explain itself. Dr Smith and other senior representatives were barred from meetings at Whakapara Marae this week.
On Sunday, Ngati Hau Whakapara Marae members and anti-mining groups met to discuss concerns about the proposed mining and to agree on how to - or whether to - engage with Evolution. Yesterday, Ngati Hau and Puhipuhi Mining Action Group gave a presentation on "Sustainable Development in a Sensitive Landscape". The Evolution group had initially been invited to that meeting but the invitation was withdrawn.
