Court decision clears hurdle for Waihi goldmine expansion

A judge says Labour Cabinet ministers were justified in overruling a decision by a Green Party colleague to block the next stage of a mining project at Waihi.

OceanaGold, in an application backed by the Overseas Investment Office, said a tailings dam was essential for its plans to extend the commercial life of mines, during which time it expects to employ about 340 “fulltime equivalent” staff and generate export receipts of about $2 billion.

But Land Information Minister and Green MP Eugenie Sage last year turned down an application by the overseas-owned company, saying expansion of gold mining at Waihi was inherently unsustainable, would increase emissions and provide only moderate employment benefits relative to winding down the operation and remediating the site.

Six months later the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister David Parker overturned her decision on the grounds that the application met criteria under the Overseas Investment Act that the overseas investment will, or is likely to, benefit New Zealand.

That led to a judicial review brought by environmental group

Of course we are disappointed in this decision but we are proud we challenged the Labour ministers for their failure to protect our environment. Coromandel Watchdog

Coromandel Watchdog, which said the ministers had not considered the detrimental affects of OceanaGold’s acquisition of about 178ha of land east of Waihi.

Justice Karen Clark has now ruled that the provisions and criteria to consider an overseas investment application were not only highly prescriptive, they are also limiting.

There was no “catch-all” provision enabling ministers to consider “any other matters” they believed were relevant.

“The applicant has not established that ministers failed to take relevant considerations into account when granting Oceana Gold’s applications for consent. Nor did ministers apply a wrong legal test. It follows that the application for judicial review must be dismissed,” said Justice Clark.

OceanaGold’s acting general manager, Dan Calderwood, welcomed the decision.

“This decision allows us to advance planning for additional tailings storage, but any construction will require resource consents under New Zealand’s stringent Resource Management Act before it can proceed.”

Calderwood said this process included extensive technical, environmental and cultural studies beyond the initial geotechnical work that has already established the site as being suitable for the construction of a tailings storage facility.

“We will also undertake a thorough consultation and engagement process with the local community and other stakeholders.”

The third tailings dam is part of Project Quattro, a major expansion of the company’s operations in the town, which could allow it to keep mining to beyond 2036.

But Coromandel Watchdog has vowed to fight on. “Of course we are disappointed in this decision but we are proud we challenged the Labour ministers for their failure to protect our environment. They also sabotaged a great decision by minister Sage.

“This is in addition to the breach of their promise to ban mining on conservation land, which means we have to keep fighting on multiple fronts against multinational gold companies as well as a Government who has failed us,” said the organisation’s chair, Catherine Delahunty.

“The legal decision basically supports the ministers’ narrow consideration of ‘jobs only’ when assessing whether an overseas company should have the right to buy land and convert it into a toxic waste dump.

“It rejects our argument that the national benefit of a project must include a proper assessment of any detriments as well as positives.”