TAt Patea Boating Club, a few hundred metres off New Zealand’s South Taranaki coast, three fishermen sit around an empty table, pigeon droppings littering the floorboards and the sound of the ocean lapping on the black sand coming through the salt-sprayed windows.
“This is one of the best fishing spots in the country,” club president Steve Corrigan says of South Taranaki Gulf, which stretches along the North Island’s vast west coast, “and it’s in danger of being destroyed.”
In addition to an abundance of fish, the bay is home to coral reefs, New Zealand pygmy blue whales and endangered species such as Maui’s dolphins, the rarest in the world.
Over the past 11 years, the area’s seabed has attracted global attention and become the scene of a fierce battle between mining companies and the local people who live and work along the coast.
Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) has been trying since 2013 to get permission to mine the ironsands, which lie 19 to 42 metres below the surface. The ironsands are rich in rare earth minerals used in making steel, batteries and spacecraft, and are an increasingly sought-after renewable energy source.
TTR’s proposal to extract up to 50 million tonnes per year for 35 years has sparked a years-long legal battle with local residents who fear that sediment discharged into the ocean will suffocate marine life, affect fishing and endanger rare marine mammals.
The fight against seabed mining in politically conservative Taranaki has brought together unlikely allies – dairy farmers, sailors, surfers, schools, iwi (Maori) and environmental groups – all working to block the proposals.
“I don’t think any of us would call ourselves environmentalists,” said Phil Morgan, a former dairy farmer and avid angler.
“We are pro-business, but this [area] It’s too important to destroy – [mining] It will continue to destroy it for years to come.”
In recent years, opposition groups such as local iwi (Muslim followers), the Seabed Mining Opponents (New Zealand’s opponents of seabed mining), and other environmental groups have been successful in delaying the mining permit through Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearings and court cases. In 2021, TTR lost its appeal in the Supreme Court to overturn the decision to block it from receiving the permit.
of The court Because it was unclear how TTR’s activities would affect marine mammals, seabirds and other species, the agency said it was “not persuaded that the conditions imposed would be sufficient to protect the environment from contamination” and sent the proposal back to the EPA for reconsideration.
But the opposition’s efforts could be jeopardized by a new challenge: the pro-mining government could pass a controversial bill that would fast-track approvals for mining projects across the country, a process TTR says it is reviewing. Withdraws from latest EPA hearing.
“The coral reefs shine with brilliant colors”
Along the high tide line of Patea Beach, a large, bright white log juts out of the black sand, a somber sight that contrasts with the vibrant world that lies just offshore.
“When you shine a light on the reef it turns out all sorts of colours – red, orange, green and purple,” says Karen Pratt of Project Reef, a group that photographs and collects data on South Taranaki’s coral reefs.
In 2022, the group and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research will map 61 km of the reef in the area. Reports found The areas near the proposed mining site are home to fish breeding sites, extensive kelp forests, algae meadows, sponge gardens, and cod farms.
Walking along Patea Beach, ecologists and Climate Justice Taranaki members Lyndon Devanteer and Catherine Chung told the Guardian that their organisation has been strongly opposed to mining off the coast for many years. Chung says TTR has failed to gain community support because it has failed to prove that the environment would be protected from its activities.
“When there is not yet clear evidence to prove something [is safe]then we must act vigilantly,” she says.
Like other groups in the community, Climate Justice Taranaki is particularly concerned about the impacts that emissions from the mine will have on marine life in the area.
in Documents submitted to EPATTR has announced the mining method. The iron sand is extracted with a device called a “crawler,” a 12-metre long, 350-ton, 8-by-8-metre machine that pumps the sand through a pipe and sends it to a processing vessel that separates the iron ore. Around 10% of the material is retained, while the rest is dumped onto the seabed, TTR said.
In an accelerated approval application submitted to the Guardian by TTR, the company said the area in which it wants to mine is a “world-class mineral deposit” and that mining would have “minimal, limited and only very short-term, localised effects” on the marine ecosystem.
In a statement to the Guardian, TTR chairman Alan Eggers said the environmental impacts would be “governed by a strict set of more than 100 agreed conditions and a series of management and monitoring plans set out by the EPA”.
The sediment returned to the seabed “will not adversely affect nearby coral reefs or people’s ability to surf or eat seafood on the shore,” the statement said.
Eggers said the project would make New Zealand the world’s third largest vanadium producer, creating jobs and generating export revenues of about NZ$1 billion a year.
Some local people support the proposal. Billy Preston, director of Taranaki shipping company Phoenix Shipping, says he sees seabed mining as an opportunity for his company and the region.
Preston, who holds a small stake in TTR, said he would be interested in getting involved if the project comes to fruition.
“There are opportunities for jobs, education and spending in the economy. It’s not just the people of Taranaki that will benefit from this – New Zealand will benefit too.”
Preston is frustrated by the opposition to the proposal, saying TTR has spent millions of dollars to ensure the environment is protected.
The biggest concern about seafloor or deep-sea mining (mining more than 200 metres deep) is that we know very little about the ecology of the organisms that live in those habitats, says James Bell, professor of marine biology at Victoria University of Wellington.
“This is a low-energy environment that’s probably been stable for a long time, so if you disturb that and kill the animals, it’s probably going to take a long time to recover.”
He says there is growing concern about sediment eruptions.
“Deep-sea environments tend to have relatively weak currents, so once sediments are suspended, they can remain there for a very long time, and if there is current, [plumes] They can travel quite far from where the seabed mining has taken place.”
There is a risk that sponges and other living organisms will become clogged and die.
“Removing that kind of complexity on the seafloor can have a knock-on effect.”
International pressure mounts
Pressure is growing for a moratorium on seabed mining activity, with at least 27 countries arguing there is insufficient data to begin drilling. Others are open to exploration, with Norway becoming the first country to approve deep-sea mining in January.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA), which regulates mining in international waters, has issued 31 exploration contracts sponsored by 14 countries.
New Zealand’s stance on seabed mining is ambiguous. In 2022, the country signed up to the ISA’s conditional moratorium on seabed mining, which covers waters outside New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone (domestic waters are open to proposals), and in 2023 Labor, National and ACT rejected a Māori Party bill that would have banned seabed mining. National and ACT said a total ban would be unhelpful, while Labor rejected it, saying it risked halting gas exploration.
Meanwhile, the right-wing coalition government that came to power last year wants to revitalise New Zealand’s mining sector as Jacinda Ardern-era environmental policies are gradually rolled back. Resources Minister Shane Jones has said he wants to double the country’s mining industry. Mineral exports to grow from NZ$1.03 billion to NZ$2 billion by 2035.
The coalition agreement between the mainstream National Party and the minority populist New Zealand First party, of which Jones is a member, commits to “explore strategic opportunities” for minerals, including vanadium.
In a statement responding to a Guardian question about the government’s stance on offshore mining, Prime Minister Jones said the government was working hard to improve New Zealand’s economy.
“There’s a huge opportunity for us to use New Zealand’s natural resources in a strategic and responsible way,” he says.
“We are committed to providing more jobs, including high-paying and high-skilled jobs, for our people,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the government said it would not comment on hypothetical applications such as the TTR mining proposal as no projects have yet been selected under the fast track. The proposal has been submitted to the Environment Committee, which is due to publish its report in September.
In the rural town of Hawera, 20 minutes north of Patea, local iwi Rachel Arnott and Graham Young of Ngāti Ruanui told the Guardian that sea, land and iwi are inextricably linked.
Young said iwi were not opposed to appropriate use of marine resources, as long as best practice was followed.
“But TTR never crossed that line … and it has been upheld by the courts,” Young said.
Mr Young said the fast-track bill posed serious new threats, particularly concerns that iwi and community groups would be excluded from the debate.
Jones said the current proposal would require an expert committee to seek and consider input from local governments, Māori organisations, landowners and others when considering projects.
Speaking from his iwi headquarters in the centre of Hawera, Arnott said they would continue to fight “for as long as we can” to stop the Taranaki plan.
“We will be loud and proud and use every delay tactic we can because this is not about me or about us, this is about the future.”
