Two fast-tracked mines delay applications
Bathurst Resources Limited doesn't expect to file a fast-track application for its West Coast coal project until November, instead of the original estimate of mid-June.
CEO Richard Tacon said the decision was made to ensure the company put its 'best foot forward' and ticked all boxes on the first go.
But conservation advocates say the announcement shows the Stockton project's vulnerabilities: 'every gust of public pressure brings it closer to collapse', said one.
Meanwhile, the company behind another listed fast-track gold mine, the Bendigo-Ophir project, announced a similar delay, but did not have an estimate of when it expects to file its application.
In March, Bathurst presented at a packed West Coast Conservation Board meeting. The company then estimated its fast-track application would be lodged around the middle of this month, and noted complexities and social licence as factors under consideration.
But on June 12, Bathurst presented to a higher power – the NZ Conservation Authority – and listed an estimated application date of November.
Tacon told Newsroom the project had had 'a bit of a slippage'. The complexity of the application meant 'the level of front-end loading needs to be probably a lot more than what we had originally planned for'.
Tacon said 'We're taking the view that we don't want to put an application that's going to get knocked back, particularly in the early stages. So we are consulting with a lot of people, including the NZ Conservation Authority.'
The meeting on Thursday was held in good faith, Tacon said. But before the company had the chance to notify the market and the public via an announcement, Tacon said he was fielding queries from interested parties, not more than 20 minutes after the meeting, which was 'pretty disappointing, actually'.
He acknowledged 'there's a lot of angst locally over whether this thing's going to be approved or not. And we want to make sure that we put our best foot forward.'
Some of that angst came from West Coast residents supporting the project, who wanted to see it approved and to boost employment in the community. But angst also came from conservationists, who didn't want to see the country's largest coal mine expanded.
Some of the latter group entered Stockton Mine's operation and occupied its coal transportation buckets for nearly three days before their arrest.
One of the protesters, 350 Aotearoa's Adam Currie, told Newsroom the delayed application 'gives us time, and you bet we will be using it'.
'Escalating uncertainty and delay is dragging the application process closer to the 2026 election and the real possibility of a new government less willing to greenlight coal mines on kiwi habitat,' Currie said.
Tacon was less concerned with activists and more concerned with local stakeholders. But opponents to the project had been an active presence at the site.
'You know, we've seen signs up to say that they're going to do harm to our diggers, which we're taking to mean our people. If that's the approach they want to take, well, then there's laws of the land that will deal with that,' Tacon said. According to Currie, whoever had displayed such signs was not a part of 350 Aotearoa, and he assumed 'blocking diggers' referred to machinery, not staff.
Tacon said the buck stopped with local stakeholders and regulatory decision-makers. 'Ultimately, if the people of the West Coast don't want us there, we won't be there,' he said.
Environmental organisation Forest & Bird ran a legal campaign against Bathurst's expansion plans in the past. Tacon said the effect of the protracted case 'is delays, it costs a lot more money, and we don't end up with a better result'.
But Forest & Bird's advocacy head Richard Capie said a delay wasn't enough. 'It needs to be ditched completely.'
He thought fast-tracked projects could face more opposition. 'The scale of opposition to a massive open cast coal mine which would permanently destroy this unique part of New Zealand and wipe out native species, and their habitats, is overwhelming.'
Bathurst wasn't the only mining company to post a delay. Santana Minerals Limited, operator of the Bendigo-Ophir gold mine, had its project listed on the fast-track.
A June 13 stock market update from the company announced it would not meet its original June 30 application target.
'While the majority of consultant reports required for the FTAA Application have now been completed and received, a group of ecological reports are still awaiting consultant finalisation, holding up the final submission,' read the submission.
Capie said the fast-track's history made a rocky road for projects in the pipeline. 'Years of community engagement and investment in building up social licence is clearly being placed at risk,' he said.
The Government's choice 'to ignore thousands of submissions that highlighted just how problematic and unworkable this legislation was going to be' meant the fast-track 'isn't working for anyone, let alone delivering anything 'fast'' he said.
Capie believed the existing Covid-19 fast-track would've achieved the efficacy sought by developers But the new regime's 'removal of environmental safeguards, closing down of community participation and resurrection of zombie projects' made it ripe for opposition.
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