Speaking tour to oppose seabed mining

Raglan's Phil McCabe is the chairman of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining. PHOTO/ FILE

A group opposing seabed mining has begun a speaking tour of the North Island's west coast this week.

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) opposes the second application by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron sand 22km offshore from Patea in the South Taranaki Bight. The tour comes in the same month that the four-week submission period on the application is expected to begin.

The first stop was to speak at Piha, near Auckland, on Tuesday. There are nine stops in all, including one in Wellington on the steps of Parliament at 1pm on September 19, to present a petition of nearly 5000 signatures.

On Friday afternoon the tour will be in Patea, speaking at Patea Area School at 3pm, chairman Phil McCabe said.

The Hawera stop is on September 28, at the Ngati Ruanui building at 7pm. Whanganui is the last stop on the tour, with the meeting at Stellar Restaurant & Bar at 7.30pm on September 29.

When Trans-Tasman Resources last applied for consent to mine iron sand in 2013, there were 4800 submissions made about it to the Environmental Protection Authority. The application was declined in 2014, after extensive hearings.

Mr McCabe is hoping there will be even more opposition to the proposal this time. The speaking tour will give an update on the situation, and information about how to oppose the application.

Consent to mine the South Taranaki seabed could open the door to mining up and down New Zealand's west coast, Mr McCabe said.