Mining Conservation Land

[bugle]

It had to be a poll/thread eventually...

I've done a bit o gold mining in my time so I'm looking forward to informed and or emotional postings

[Oli]

Fuck off Brownlee et al!

[BrokenKonaRider]

Once you've finished telling Vorb your views, tell the government here:
http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/xform____42557.aspx

[mark2c]

Czech it out. Gerry the Hut is selling out conservation estate - for precious metal?

Nope. Just gravel.

The background geology report on the Parakawai Ecological Area identifies the area as an "aggregate" source. Yes, this idiot government wants to turn an ecological reserve into a shingle pit. http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/Multip ... 42792.aspx

Putting this in perspective, aggregate is a commodity that sells for about $10/ton.

Cripes NZ, did we vote these idiots in?

http://norightturn.blogspot.com/Thanks Idiot Savant

[swtchbckr]

gee wow, $10 a tonne... thats SO valuable.

i say FUCK BROWNLEE and the ship(ley) he sailed in on..

This paragraph

The Otahu Ecological Area comprises lowland to montane forest, including kauri, and is
part of the largely forested Otahu River catchment. This catchment drains to the Otahu
Estuary. The Otahu Estuary and catchment is one of few areas remaining in the
Coromandel that provides a reasonably intact natural sequence of habitat from the upper
reaches of stream tributaries in the mountains to the marine habitats of the ocean. The
Otahu Ecological Area provides valuable habitat for North Island brown kiwi, Hochstetter's
and Archey's frogs, as well as native fisheries.

SOOO we want to mine the crap out of it!?

and on Great Barrier

Biodiversity values are not well known, but
the native shrub daisy Brachyglottis kirkii var angustior, which is in serious decline, is
found in the area.

For FUCKS SAKE. keep the fuck out of there then, let it fucking be!?

[Kyle]

As a pro mining son of a miner I'd have no problem pouring sugar in the gas tanks of any heavy vehicles entering conservation land for the purpose of mining.

[mudguard]

Meh, with all this proposed economic growth does this mean we'll all earn 50k in some sort of utopia?

Frankly I don't care. They mine it, we see a few more jobs, but most of the money disappears off shore.

My heart says once something is preserved, then it should be left. But if it could get us out of debt, ie entirely govt owned. Perhaps

[mark2c]

Meh, with all this proposed economic growth does this mean we'll all earn 50k in some sort of utopia?

Frankly I don't care. They mine it, we see a few more jobs, but most of the money disappears off shore.

My heart says once something is preserved, then it should be left. But if it could get us out of debt, ie entirely govt owned. Perhaps

Yeah, this way it is protected until it isn't. Akin to the effect of a Fiji type coup on the constitution...

The legacy will be having to make many conscious decisions to protect these areas, but only one idiot decision to destroy them.

[disoriented]

National can go fuck off. They're bunch of idiots that seem to think selling off the country assets for a short term gain but with a long term expense is a good idea.

[Tugboat]

To quote Gerry Brown-nose on teh telly the other night... "areas of low value conservation land". How the fuck can conservation land be "low value"? The very fact that it is conservation land implies some intrinsic value that warranted protection in the first place.

Mining and conservation don't go hand in hand. Already The Economist is having a dig at the demise of NZ's "clean, green" image, so keep your money-grubbing (most of which will go into the pockets of people overseas) fat fuck fingers out of it!

[Kazmeistyr]

Nobody really gives a shit about the "clean" bit in "clean and green" anyway. They like the "green" and the "white" snowy stuff. Especially not NZer's - littering fuckers.

I'm not informed well enough to judge whether this is overall a good or bad thing,yet.

But, whether we like it or not the country needs to sell stuff to suckers overseas to maintain a decent lifestyle. I don't think there are many alternatives ( besides stopping rooting, which is ) or going commie.

I say drill for the oil. We've already fished it out all the Roughy, so bugger it.

[JohnDH]

In many ways, the dilemma New Zealand faces is no different to that of other rich countries—how to balance economic growth with the need to address environmental degradation. But it is particularly acute in a country so dependent on the export of commodities and landscape-driven tourism. The difference between New Zealand and other places is that New Zealand has actively sold itself as “100% Pure”. Now that New Zealanders themselves are acknowledging the gap between the claim and reality, and the risk to their reputation this poses, it is time for the country to find itself a more sustainable brand, and soon.

From: http://www.economist.com/world/internat ... d=15763381

Thanks for the heads up to The Economist, Tugboat. Gist of the article is that hypocrisy is a hard sell.

Pike River seems to be doing things right, however. Maybe we can lead the world in green mining technology? And we give up all chance of that if we license open-cast aggregate mining to multinationals.

[hickie]

If the land has more value as a mine than a park, go for I say.

Some of the best rides I've been on are in areas that are old mining or native forestry areas...

[Scotty]

I wonder that if they hadn't got such a fat fuck to front the proposals then maybe the backlash wouldn't have been so intense. John-boy has said again and again that he sees New Zealand's mineral wealth as key to catching up to Aussie. New Zealand voted for it, therefore New Zealand has to wear it. If you voted National, stop whinging and deal with it.

Now, we're not talking open-cast mines here, we are talking tunnels. The damage doesn't necessarily come from the actual mining activity itself but rather the infrastructure needed to support it. A lot of the slash-and-burn people are freaking out about just won't happen.

On the other hand, the mining companies go on about the resource consents process and whatnot ensuring environmental impacts are minimal ...if they are adhered to. Accidents happen, like a metric shitload of lime and other nastiness getting 'accidentally' dumped into an estuary and killing all marine-life along a 2km stretch. I don't really want to see that happen within a conservation estate where the stakes are much higher.

Can New Zealand trust the mining companies to do what is asked of them? That's a better question.

I personally see cow-cockies and shit they pull as a far more important debate myself. Money from mining will be awesome, we'll be able to buy in all our bottled water if we keep going down the road we're following right now.

[Scotty]

If the land has more value as a mine than a park, go for I say.

Some of the best rides I've been on are in areas that are old mining or native forestry areas...

Sooooo if there was a whole bunch of sweet sweet tasty mineral wealth under the WTP you'd be all for it then?