Iwi threat to block harbour

By Angela Gregory

TE HAPUA - A Far North iwi may block the entrance to the country's most northern harbour if sand mining resumes before questions of tribal ownership are sorted out.

The Minister for Enterprise and Commerce, Max Bradford, yesterday announced that the Auckland-based glass company ACI NZ Operations had been granted a 12-year mining permit to take up to 50,000 tonnes of silica sand at Parengarenga Harbour.

In 1992 ACI started mining sand from the Kokota spit, 15km south of North Cape on the east coast, but stopped in 1997 because of iwi concerns at the environmental impact.

In April 1997 local Maori opposed to the mining began to blockade the harbour entrance with boats and barges.

ACI already held a coastal permit, which allowed it to mine the area, but meanwhile sought a mining permit required since 1996 under the Crown Minerals Act.

Mr Bradford said both the Ngati Kuri and Te Aupouri iwi had tangata whenua status at Parengarenga.

But a Ngati Kuri spokesman, Tom Bowling Murray, yesterday warned there was a high probability of another blockade when mining resumed.

Ngati Kuri wanted to highlight that it was the rightful owner of the sand, not Te Aupouri, which received the royalties. Mr Bowling Murray said the harbour was in the Ngati Kuri rohe (tribal territory), but the Te Aupouri iwi had in the 1950s asked Ngati Kuri for the royalties as it was in financial strife.

"Ngati Kuri gave them the taonga, but they've kept it ... that's how they've been invested as the owners now."

Mr Bowling Murray said his people had asked for a return of the ownership rights since the 1960s.

Many Ngati Kuri people opposed the sand mining and locals had already noticed an improvement in the harbour fish life since it was suspended.

The chairman of the Te Aupouri Trust Board, George Witana, said he was "ecstatic" that the mining would resume as the royalties of about $90,000 a year had been missed in the economically depressed area.

He said the trust board was vested with the ownership in 1955, and Ngati Kuri had representatives on the board.

The royalties directly benefited both iwi, and indirectly helped Maori from Kaitaia north by contributions to marae and schools.

The general manager of ACI, Keith Hamilton, said the company would not rush into sand mining at Parengarenga.

Mr Hamilton said he was discussing the Ngati Kuri concerns with the iwi and the company would in the meantime continue to import sand from Australia.