Protesters from 350 Aotearoa in the coal buckets at the Stockton Mine on the Denniston Plateau, where they spent two nights last week.
Protesters from 350 Aotearoa in the coal buckets at the Stockton Mine on the Denniston Plateau, where they spent two nights last week.
Protesters from 350 Aotearoa and Climate Liberation Aotearoa halted coal operations on Denniston Plateau.
Shane Jones and Tania Gibson criticised the protest, citing safety risks and economic impacts.
Activists argue coal mining exacerbates climate change and harms local ecosystems and communities.
Shane Jones did not mince his words.
“I cannot fathom the mentality of these blow-ins from other parts of the country,” declared the Minister of Resources and Regional Development last week, as protesters occupied aerial coal buckets, bringing work to a halt on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau.
“NewZealand is relying on a stockpile of 1.2 million tonnes of coal to keep the lights on this winter,” he said. “Where do these activists think it comes from if not from mines?”
Mining, he added, creates “millions of dollars in royalties, wages and infrastructure, plant and supplies spending”. It has a “proud history” on the West Coast and the protest was “incredibly insulting” to the local people.
Grey District Mayor Tania Gibson agreed with him. She gave RNZ a message for the protesters: “Bugger off and go back to where you came from.”
The protest was staged by about 70 people, mainly from the activist groups 350 Aotearoa and Climate Liberation Aotearoa.
Their aim was to slow the coal-mining operations of Bathurst Resources at Stockton, on the northern part of the Denniston Plateau, and draw attention to the company’s application, under the new fast-track legislation, to reopen the Escarpment Mine further south on the plateau.
Their concerns are over the impact of coal on global warming, and the impact of open-cast mining on the local flora and fauna.
Jones said the protesters had a “lack of awareness and consideration for others” which was “mind-boggling”.
“They turn up, reportedly with an 8-month-old child in tow, to protest what is a legitimate industry going about its lawful business. In the process, they are putting themselves in danger and sapping the resources of police and other agencies.”
NZ First minister Shane Jones at the New Zealand First party conference in Hamilton this year, where he attacked anti-mining protests. Photo / Mike Scott
He added that businesses have a legal right to apply for fast-track approval, and he was confident that guardrails are in place to ensure projects comply with environmental laws.
Gibson said, “People do have the right to protest but what they’re doing is a health and safety risk. It’s affecting people’s working days and the company, what they need to produce, it’s just plain stupidity and grandstanding.”
Were the minister and the mayor right?
Ten days ago, about 70 protesters set up camp on the windswept and rainy Denniston Plateau, near the site of the old Escarpment Mine office.
Denniston is 15km into the mountains near Westport. It was once the site of the largest coalmine in New Zealand, and in 1884, the country’s first miners’ union was formed. But production peaked in 1910, the railway with its famously steep “Denniston Incline” closed in 1967, and in 1995 mining was abandoned altogether. A tourism operation lasted until 2017.
Bathurst, originally an Australian company but now with majority Singaporean ownership, is the largest coal-mining company in New Zealand. It has a licence to operate at Stockton and wishes to begin open-cast mining at Escarpment, to extract about 70 million tonnes of coking coal.
Early last Monday, seven protesters climbed up the towers supporting an aerial ropeway at Stockton that transports coal buckets down the mountainside. Three of them spent the night in the buckets and were later joined by others. This occupation brought coal transportation from the mine to a halt.
The next morning, speaking from one of the buckets, protester Adam Currie said it had been “a cold, wet night” and their situation was “extremely uncomfortable”. But they were “drawing a line in the sand”, and the protest showed how determined they were to shut down the mine.
Late on Wednesday, after 60 hours in the buckets, they came down. Currie and three others were arrested, while 10 protesters were charged with trespass.
350 Aotearoa protesters being arrested on the Denniston Plateau. Adam Currie is on the left.
What’s to be made of the accusations by Jones and Gibson?
Were they ‘blow-ins’ who didn’t care about the locals?
“Support has poured in from across the motu,” says Currie, “and local folks have backed us by bringing baking, offering places to sleep and sharing their own frustrations with the mine.”
He says about half of the 70-strong protest group were West Coast locals.
Don’t we need to keep the lights on?
According to Currie, Denniston coal is “100% for export” and Bathurst’s own website makes it clear this is largely true. It says most of the coal is and will continue to be exported: it’s used to make steel, mainly in India.
Jones is right that New Zealand suffered a power crisis last winter and is expected to do so again this winter. But Denniston coal is not the solution, especially as new solar and wind generation already in the Government’s pipeline could be operational within the time it will take to reopen the Escarpment Mine.
What about the economic benefits?
A recent Newsroom story revealed the Government spent the equivalent of all its 2024 royalties treating damage caused by a single coal mine. That, says Currie, shows Jones’ enthusiasm for royalties revenue is misplaced. He believes royalties are a net loss to the Crown.
But what about the jobs? Bathurst says its plans for Denniston will mean 390 jobs, providing $28 million a year in wages. Is it “selfish” to oppose that?
Another 350 Aotearoa protester, Alva Feldmeier, said the “real selfishness” is the Government’s determination to fast-track coal mining “in the middle of a climate crisis, locking us into pollution and ignoring the long-term well-being of local communities, ecosystems and future generations”.
“What is truly dangerous is another season of droughts and ecological collapse,” she says. “The real risk to public resources isn’t the protest, it’s fossil-fuel subsidies, fast-track bills and it’s this Government.”
What about the environment?
Gibson says, “They still have to go through consents and very strict regulations”, and the fast-track process will be good for the coast.
When the original Fast-track Approvals Bill was published, World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) NZ chief executive Kayla Kingdon-Bebb called it an “unprecedented assault on nature and democracy”.
Even after it was amended in the select committee process, the Environmental Defence Society was not impressed. “The bill retains several significant flaws,” it said, “that collectively mean that if enacted in its present form would make it the worst environmental legislation in our history.”
Bathurst has applied for approval under this act. In October, the company told investors that because it bypasses the resource consent process, the act would make expansion easier and could make its mining permissions permanent.
Using data from the Ministry for the Environment, 350 Aotearoa has calculated that coal from the Escarpment mine will generate 53 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over 25 years.
Protesters on the aerial ropeway and coal buckets at the Stockton Mine.
“For comparison,” it says, “the entirety of New Zealand produced 59 million tonnes of carbon emissions in 2022.”
Is it a legitimate industry?
Jones is right that Bathurst has been acting lawfully. But his claim coal mining is “legitimate” is disputed.
As Green MP Julie Anne Genter points out, “The International Energy Agency has said that in order to meet net zero carbon emissions targets there must be no new coal mines.”
In her view, “Continuing to support coal mining, as our Coalition Government is doing, means endorsing a dying industry that poisons our planet and perpetuates the cycle of pollution and environmental destruction which we all suffer from.”
Genter’s Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, which has been drawn from the ballot, would prevent new coal mines from being opened while stopping old ones being expanded.
“Coal mining exploits vulnerable communities, exposing them to the harmful boom and bust cycle,” she says, “not to mention subjecting them to hazardous working conditions that rob them of health, dignity, and a sustainable future.”
Greenpeace was not involved in the Denniston occupation, but Amanda Larsson from that organisation says, “This planned expansion of coal mining, cheered on by hapless politicians that belong to a bygone era, would not only drive climate change but also risk losing critical native species found only here in Aotearoa.
“The people taking action on the Denniston Plateau are guardians who deserve our support and admiration. Nobody wants to put their body on the line or risk arrest, but these people have found the courage to do so, and we salute them.”
But what about that baby?
Feldmeier says a mother and her 8-month-old child did attend the protest. They were locals, stayed for just a couple of hours, and both were safe, dry and had enjoyed themselves.
Banner on the Denniston Plateau.
Simon Wilson is a senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.
