Latest news with #Tacon
Newsroom
13-06-2025
- Business
- Newsroom
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.
Otago Daily Times
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Arrests as West Coast coal mine protest ends
Three protesters were arrested today at the Stockton mine on the West Coast. Photo: Supplied / Climate Liberation Aotearoa Further arrests have ended demonstrations at a West Coast coal mine after a group of protesters tried to shut the operation down. The mining company Bathurst Resources is seeking fast-track approval to extend its Stockton mine and extract 20-million tonnes of coal from the Denniston and Stockton Plateaux over the next 25 years. Seven people were charged with trespassing earlier this week. On Wednesday, another three protesters were arrested with details on the charges still being finalised. Last week, about 70 people camped on Denniston Plateau, before several protesters on Monday climbed into cable cars used to transport coal, in order to halt operations. Police said there were no protesters left at the mine by Wednesday night. In a statement, Bathurst chief executive Richard Tacon said it takes the safety of anyone at its mining sites very seriously. "Individuals illegally occupying Stockton mine infrastructure at Ngakawau and the Escarpment mine on the West Coast have now left of their own accord, following Bathurst's formal issue of trespass notices, and New Zealand Police presence," he said. "We are pleased that the situation has now been resolved and we have been able to ensure those involved are now safe." The company alerted Police, WorkSafe New Zealand and the Department of Conservation when learning of the protest action, including concerns for trespassers' safety, Tacon said. "We are deeply thankful to the many members of our local Westport community for reaching out to extend their support for our West Coast operations over the past few days. "This especially includes our West Coast workforce for their patience while their work has been interrupted." He said the coal mine is back to full operations. Climate activist Adam Currie said protesters would continue to fight the mine. "We've stalled at least two days of coal extraction, sent a clear message to Bathurst and the government, and shown that people are ready to resist the Fast Track Act and the climate-wrecking projects it enables," he said. "Support has poured in from across the motu, and local folks have backed us by bringing baking, offering places to sleep, and sharing their own frustrations with the mine. "Our resolve is stronger than ever."
RNZ News
23-04-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
West Coast coal mine protest at Stockton ends as police arrest three more demonstrators
Photo: Supplied / Climate Liberation Aotearoa Further arrests have ended demonstrations at a West Coast coal mine after a group of protesters tried to shut the operation down. The mining company Bathurst Resources is seeking fast-track approval to extend its Stockton mine and extract 20-million tonnes of coal from the Denniston and Stockton Plateaux over the next 25 years. Seven people were charged with trespassing earlier this week. On Wednesday, another three protesters were arrested with details on the charges still being finalised. Photo: Supplied / Climate Liberation Aotearoa Last week, about 70 people camped on Denniston Plateau, before several protesters on Monday climbed into cable cars used to transport coal, in order to halt operations. Police said there were no protesters left at the mine by Wednesday night. In a statement, Bathurst chief executive Richard Tacon said it takes the safety of anyone at its mining sites very seriously. "Individuals illegally occupying Stockton mine infrastructure at Ngakawau and the Escarpment mine on the West Coast have now left of their own accord, following Bathurst's formal issue of trespass notices, and New Zealand Police presence," he said. "We are pleased that the situation has now been resolved and we have been able to ensure those involved are now safe." The company alerted Police, WorkSafe New Zealand and the Department of Conservation when learning of the protest action, including concerns for trespassers' safety, Tacon said. Richard Tacon Chief Executive of the coal company Bathurst Resources Photo: Supplied "We are deeply thankful to the many members of our local Westport community for reaching out to extend their support for our West Coast operations over the past few days. "This especially includes our West Coast workforce for their patience while their work has been interrupted." He said the coal mine is back to full operations. Climate activist Adam Currie said protesters would continue to fight the mine. "We've stalled at least two days of coal extraction, sent a clear message to Bathurst and the government, and shown that people are ready to resist the Fast Track Act and the climate-wrecking projects it enables," he said. "Support has poured in from across the motu, and local folks have backed us by bringing baking, offering places to sleep, and sharing their own frustrations with the mine. "Our resolve is stronger than ever." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Australia's Lessons for L.A. as It Rebuilds—and Preps for Future Fires
A permit burn spreading through green bush land in the Australian outback, photographed from a drone in October 2024. Credit - AbstractIt's around this time of year that Jill Tacon's nose begins to twitch. Having lived in the Mount Eliza neighborhood south of Melbourne for over 50 years, the retiree is all too familiar with the early signs of approaching wildfires, known as 'bushfires' locally. 'My nose is super alert in summer,' she tells TIME. 'I really look for the smell of burning. I also look at the sky to see if there is any smoke in the vicinity.' That diligence paid dividends just three weeks ago when Tacon, 77, was out walking her Australian Kelpie and stumbled upon a fire by a nearby creek. She backed up, warned her neighbors, and Victoria state's Country Fire Authority (CFA), which was fortunately holding a training session nearby, sent two trucks to put out the blaze before it could spread. 'They think perhaps it was a spark from a power line,' Tacon says of the fire's cause. 'We don't really know. But it just reminded us that we are now in a very dry period of summer and we should rehearse in our minds what we need to do if there is a fire.' It's something plenty of Americans are also mulling following the firestorm that swept through Los Angeles County's Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods last month, razing more than 16,000 buildings, generating 4.5 million tons of debris, and causing some $275 billion of damage. As the complex cleanup and recovery process gets underway, the debate about how to instill resilience and preparedness to fend off future catastrophes is heating up. Australia's experience battling bushfires offers invaluable context for the Golden State—and the wider U.S.—as rising global temperatures render increased fire risk the new normal. Even against the background of the L.A. carnage, Australia's experience is undeniably more acute. Back in 2019, wildfires torched 83 million acres of Australia, an area twice the size of Florida. Before the recent L.A. blazes started, the Grampians National Park just west of Melbourne—a vast expanse of sandstone mountains teeming with echidnas and wallabies—was already ablaze, and it continues to burn today, with at least 271,000 acres lost to the flames. (By comparison, wildfires across the U.S., including in L.A. County, have burned 77,224 acres so far in 2025.) Moreover, the Grampians blaze is just one of 10 bushfires currently raging in the state of Victoria, out of more than 40 across the antipodean nation of 27 million. The threat is severe and constant; on Jan. 27, a dry lightning strike sparked a bushfire in Victoria that, fueled by strong winds, devoured 170,000 acres in just six hours. 'It's a pretty busy fire season,' CFA Victoria Deputy Chief Officer Alen Slijepcevic says with a shrug in his new Melbourne offices. Why the L.A. wildfires were so destructive has also become a political football in the U.S. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said a warming planet was a contributing factor, while President Donald Trump—who has previously called climate change 'an expensive hoax'—has blamed 'gross incompetence' regarding state water and forestry mismanagement. When it comes to the climate change debate, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in no doubt, pointing to how parts of Australia's eastern state of New South Wales that were 'essentially rainforest' burned this year for the first time in centuries. 'You can't say that every event is because of climate change,' Albanese tells TIME. 'But what the science told us was that there would be more events, more frequent, and more intense. And that's what's playing out.' Still, there is plenty that people can do. Wildfires need four elements to spread: sufficient plant biomass to act as fuel; dry enough conditions to allow that fuel to ignite; wind or a slope to spread the fire; and lastly some form of ignition, whether a spark, discarded glass bottle focusing sunlight, lightning strike, or myriad other causes. What's changed over the last few decades as the planet heats up is the availability of dry fuel, with parched winters meaning that burning season in Victoria now begins roughly a month earlier than the mid-1990s, and it also stretches farther into the autumn. 'Ignitions aren't necessarily linked to climate change, but fuel availability definitely is,' says CFA senior researcher Nick McCarthy. 'If we've got 25-50% more time when that fuel is available, then we are going to have more fires.' A longer burning season also curtails the time available for prevention work. In the winter, the CFA conducts prescribed burning to clear high-risk areas before they have the chance to ignite naturally and threaten communities. It's a technique also used in northern Californian forests, though, critically, not often in the state's south due to a prevalence of protected chaparral scrub—low trees and bushes that thrive in hot, dry conditions—as well as dense residential areas. In addition, vegetation dries first in California's inland valleys, which may already suffer from wildfires—occupying limited firefighting resources—by the time wetter coastal areas are even ready for prescribed burning. However, less time to prepare terrain means efforts must instead focus on mitigation and adaptation. 'The world's left it too late not to worry about adaptation,' Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen tells TIME in his parliamentary office in Canberra. 'It is now the case that every type of natural disaster is more frequent and severe because of climate change, and these natural disasters are increasingly unnatural because they're being caused by human activity.' Much like in the U.S., if someone does spot a bushfire, the usual response is to dial 000, Australia's equivalent to 911. The CFA then dispatches resources depending on the reported size, location, nature, and assets around—human habitations, livestock, as well as protected flora and fauna. Typically, a computer simulation is run to predict the spread over six hours if minimal suppression occurs. Problems arise if there are multiple contingencies that all require attention at once. 'Then it becomes a numbers game,' says Slijepcevic. When a big blaze occurs, multiple assets are dispatched, including trucks, bulldozers, and aircraft to douse the flames. In extremely inaccessible areas, helicopters may drop firefighters with dry tools like rakes to impede the fire's spread. Of course, tackling blazes early and efficiently is key and relies on the diligence of the local community—a trait baked into Australian life and that will now likely become more prevalent in the U.S. The availability of firefighting equipment also became politically charged in the wake of the L.A. fires. But Slijepcevic insists that no number of aircraft could have helped given the ferocity of California's Santa Ana winds. 'When you have 140 kph [87 mph] winds, nothing will fly,' he says. 'Even if they can fly, they will never hit the targets, because the [water] will go sideways.' Still, there are ways to be better prepared. Whereas across the U.S. there are 29,452 individual fire departments which recruit, train, and dispatch firefighters, the CFA has an army of 30,000 volunteers across Victoria who all undergo standardized training and can be assigned centrally to enhance coordination and reduce deployment times. 'That means our ability to scale is really significant,' says McCarthy. Education and awareness are also key. Every year, the CFA holds regular outreach events with schools and the community to familiarize regular folk with the telltale signs of impending fires, how to get relevant information from official sources, and the appropriate risk mitigation tactics. (California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has for decades provided regularly updated and enhanced wildfire reporting and information resources via whose traffic according to Similarweb soared by over 3,500% from December to January.) For homeowners, advice includes ensuring lawns are cut short, overhanging branches are trimmed back, and gutters are cleared of leaves. Something as innocent as spreading woodchips on flowerbeds or piling firewood by a back wall can be calamitous when burning leaves and bark are floating overhead. (Tacon says she also swapped out her old thin windows for thicker glass which can withstand higher temperatures.) Ultimately, any structure just needs one weak link for fire to spread. 'It could just be a doormat that catches an ember,' says Slijepcevic. Still, apart from adaptation, Slijepcevic says that urban planning 'is the only proactive lever that we have.' The impetus for Los Angeles County now is to ensure that fire-proof materials are used in construction, meaning no wood shingle roofs, installing sprinkler systems linked to independent water sources, and only planting fire-resistant trees. (In Australia, oil-rich native eucalyptus are fantastic for wildlife including Koalas but disastrous for fires.) Adequate setbacks must be enforced both between buildings and vegetation as well as between buildings themselves. The fact that the L.A. County fires predominantly spread house-to-house is evidence that building codes were sorely inadequate. 'Most of the risks that we're dealing with now are land use planning decisions over the last 200 years,' says Slijepcevic. 'So there are obviously things that can be done now to rebuild California to different standards.' It's also notable that Australia has changed its advice for at-risk residents. Following the apocalyptic Ash Wednesday bushfires that swept southern and western Australia in 1983, investigators realized that most of the 75 fatalities perished in late-stage evacuations. Thereafter, they developed a 'prepare, stay and defend, or leave early' protocol. But then came the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which remain the nation's deadliest. Many of the 173 fatalities died trying to protect their homes. Ever since, the advice has changed to simply 'leave early.' (In California, current advice similarly focuses on instilling resilience into homes before wildfire season but escaping early if a blaze does approach.) The reason is clear. 'Nobody knows how they will react when the fire arrives,' says Slijepcevic. 'It's really frightening, it sounds like a jet flying next to your ear, there's confusion, no visibility. Even experienced firefighters have different reactions when it comes to something like that.' Similarly, most of the L.A. wildfire victims died either at home or attempting to flee too late. (Albeit some were physically impaired and sadly unable to leave.) Of course, the instinct to stay and defend one's home and life's possessions is very natural, though Slijepcevic—who like McCarthy spent last summer seconded to fire departments across North America—notes that in his experience people in the U.S. 'actually leave earlier and quicker than they necessarily do in Australia.' Still, the question both in Australia and the U.S. is whether the rising cost of insurance and growing band with uninsured or uninsurable homes will shift value judgements. After all, losing your home to rebuild again is a vastly different proposition to losing everything period. 'The events of California will definitely ripple across the insurance industry around the world,' says Slijepcevic. 'The cost of insurance will go up here and then potentially the actions that people undertake [in the event of a fire].' Tacon, for one, has already seen her insurance premium jump by around $600 last year to almost $2,000 annually. Still, she is under no illusions about the correct course of action should the worst occur. Whereas before 2009 she and her husband would fill buckets and bathtubs with water upon reports of a nearby bushfire, today they have a box packed ready with all important family papers and a few mementos. She regularly checks the state emergency app for any fires within a 25 km (15 mi) radius and has mapped out the best route to a designated safe assembly ground at a nearby football field. Of course, L.A. has advised residents to pack 'go bags' and make escape plans in the event of fires for many years. Climate change means that Californians may have to follow Australia's lead and take such steps much more seriously. 'You just accept that if a fire comes through that you're going to lose a lot of memories,' Tacon says. 'But you don't want to lose your life.' Write to Charlie Campbell at
