Black gold fires up the West Coast

Under the Paparoa Ranges lies the coal that is refuelling the coast's revival. Picture / Simon Baker

Not even a tornado that ripped apart his Greymouth factory can shake Dave McMillan's optimism.

The typically laidback West Coaster is standing in his engineering shop, Dispatch & Garlick, pointing out the scars of the freak storm in March last year that ripped the roof off the building and caused tens of millions of dollars of damage across the region.

Even as his 45-strong workforce has struggled to repair the millions of dollars' damage at his factory, he has remained upbeat.

That's because he and his firm are riding high on the resurgence of the South Island's West Coast.

"We have had our best year for exports, despite the high dollar, and we have managed to do it as well as getting a far bit of rebuilding done.

"You have to think positive. It is just another challenge to rebuild in a way that you can improve the business," McMillan says.

"I always say that the coast has more resources than any other place in the country. It's a matter of when it is realised and we make the most of it."

McMillan's confidence is contagious on the picturesque but often maligned West Coast. The region, whose people were described as "feral" by Prime Minister Helen Clark, is experiencing an economic rebirth from a 30-year slump that saw the population fall from 40,000 in the late 1960s to 30,000 a year ago.

Fuelled by strongly performing tourism and dairy industries, the coast has bounced back from the $10 million damage bill from the tornado with the help of good insurance coverage.

Now an economic surge is about to sweep through. The region is set to reap the benefits of a new coalmine that will create hundreds of jobs and revitalise Greymouth's rundown port.

The Pike River coal mine, which will be beneath the Paparoa Ranges about 40km northeast of Greymouth, was approved by Conservation Minister Chris Carter last year.

The Grey District Council, the largest of three local authorities on the coast, will pour $20 million into upgrading the port where Pike River Coal plans to truck 1.3 million tonnes every year for shipping to Taranaki for export.

The mine and associated industries will create about 200 jobs in a region already boasting the equal lowest unemployment in the country.

Unemployment on the coast is 2.5 per cent, but local authorities say there are jobs for everyone willing to work.

"Over the next three to four years we will have the biggest growth rate in New Zealand," predicts Grey District Council mayor Tony Kokshoorn.

"That is underpinned by dairy farming and tourism, which are both booming. The best thing I see around the place now is people have got confidence again.

"The employment opportunities here are enormous. Getting skilled people is our biggest problem. These sorts of things we never dreamed of could happen here. And we deserve it after being in 30 years of a big hole while the rest of New Zealand went ahead."

The West Coast's slump began in the 1960s when the Maui gasfield in Taranaki was developed and coal mining declined. When forestry also declined, the coast's major industries started drying up and thousands left for greener pastures.

"I mean, our biggest export was people," Kokshoorn says.

Now people are beginning to return. The Grey District has recorded a small population increase for the first time in decades and 800 sections are being developed for sale, which is "unheard of", Kokshoorn says.

"Five years ago you couldn't sell a house for more than $200,000. And if you put a house on the market you would take 18 months to two years to sell it. Now you sell it in two weeks.

"There are not enough houses to supply the demand. A $200,000 house is commonplace."

Kokshoorn says the Pike River mine and the deal with the port is one of the best things to happen to the coast. "Coal is not a dirty word any more. We have an electricity crisis in New Zealand. Maui gas is running out. And we have booming markets in China and India that are screaming out for coal.

"The secret now is getting the balance right. Because we don't want to throw away the beauty and the attraction of the West Coast from a tourist point of view, as against coal trucks thundering down the road."

Workers are forging into rugged Department of Conservation forest to carve a road that will lead into the mine. For now, they are working in heavy sludge on a track only accessible by four-wheel-drive but a fully sealed access should be completed in the next few months.

Work will soon begin at Greymouth's port to accommodate purpose-built ships. Port manager David Stapleton says the 1880s port has survived only with a small fishing industry and minimal coal shipments after rail took over transport.

The Pike River coal will help the port return to its glory days of old.

"We have a port we have struggled to keep going," Stapleton says. "If it doesn't have an injection of trade it doesn't have a future."

A ship-loader, conveying gear and navigation equipment will be installed and 15 more staff will join the existing seven, equipping the port to take on other big shipping contracts.

"We were quite pleased that we got a 19th-century port into the 21st century," Stapleton says. "Now we are looking at making it into a 21st-century port that will make it into the 22nd century."

The West Coast Development Trust was formed in 2001 with $92 million in compensation from the Government after the end of native logging and now boasts $115 million in the kitty to support growth in the region, after making $5 million in grants to communities and $20 million in loans and investments in local businesses.

It has helped the coast transform from a region mired in "disappointment and disillusionment" to a vibrant, colourful area.

Its chief executive, Mike Trousselot, says: "The colours of grey have changed. Everyone has grizzled for years - Greymouth, Grey River, grey days, grey sky. Over the past few years buildings have been painted bright colours. People are starting to paint their houses and the suburbs are full of colour.

"One of the nicest things is we still have no traffic lights, people still say hello to each other, and if you walk across the pedestrian crossing the guy in the car will stop for you. A lot of people don't want, in a sense, too much broad-brush progress because then the region will lose its flavour and its colour."

Figures from the trust back up how well the coast is doing. Last June the region's growth rate reached 5.6 per cent - the highest in New Zealand.

"Housing prices have doubled in the past few years," Trousselot says. "A little two-bedroom house was $60,000, now it's $120,000. A few years ago we had few $500,000 homes on the coast. Today there are many million-dollar homes. What's happened now is that the price is stabilising and the rate of sales is slowing a little.

"That's a good thing, because a lot of coast people are wondering how their kids are going to afford their own home."

On the streets of Greymouth, the people are celebrating the resurgence. The pace of life is slower than on big-city streets and people are always happy to stop and talk.

"There's just a general good feeling," says Therese Gibbens, owner of Greymouth's Revingtons Hotel.

"There are a lot of new houses being built and a lot of outside investment coming in. Maybe the country is discovering a bit of a hidden treasure. Up until a couple of years ago the price of land was cheap. That's not quite the case now."

Unfortunately the upward swing in the coast's fortunes was not enough to stem the loss of the region's young people.

"They are still shipping out and very few return - there is still a perception that there is nothing here to do for young people," says Gibbens.

Jade Gallery manager Donna Kilkelly has seen the coast emerge from a deep slumber to make an upward swing. "We are the last bastion of unspoiled land in New Zealand. People are definitely starting to discover it. In winter it is always a bit of a struggle for retailers, but that's never been any different."

Greymouth's Smith's City store is doing well from the outfitting of new housing and will expand its premises.

"Because of the upswing more people are looking at Greymouth as a serious option," says assistant manager Craig Stanton.

"Housing is still at the point where it is affordable. We have had a very good 2005 and there is a lot of confidence for this year as well.

"We find it even in the retail sector, where it is harder to fill positions because there are more jobs out there than ever before."

Trousselot sees the challenges now as broadening industries from the big three - tourism, dairying and mining - so the coast is equipped to cope with growth. It is also desperate to attract more skilled people.

"It's great having visitors, domestic and international. But we would really like to attract more to keep the engine going," Trousselot says.

"It's getting easier to attract them for the lifestyle and salaries and conditions have improved, but rural New Zealand still struggles to compete with the urban drift."