Media Release
12-11-2012
The Destructive Effects of Mining Boom-and-Bust Cycles on Communities
What the Coromandel Can Learn from the West Coast Experience
The issues raised last week by the Buller District Council,at the Parliamentary Select committee hearing considering
amendment of the Crown Minerals Act,offer a cautionary tale for the Coromandel. Thames Coromandel District
Councilplanners and community members should take note of the serious risks of dependingon a boom-and-bust industrylike
mining.
“The West Coast rollercoasterride of unstable economic conditions is a warning to the Coromandel that mining is
economically unsustainable. The international prices for gold and other minerals will keep fluctuatingand mining
companies will constantly shift their plans based on these variations,” says Coromandel Watchdog Coordinator Renee
Annan. “Communities with stable populations are far more sustainable than a boom and bust workforce renting houses and
disappearing from the rating base once the boom is over.”
“What we heard from the chief executive of the Buller District Council is that in the ‘boom’ part of the industry
cycle,rentals are scarce and community infrastructure stressed.What pitiful royalties are collected go to the
Government, not the local community,” Ms Annan said.
“The additional irony of a boom in gold with a company like Newmont Waihi Gold is that the profits all flow offshore.
It’s the local community that must finance the short-term costs of a stressed infrastructure. Of course, we also know
the local community is left with the long term costs such as tailings dam monitoring. When a mine closes, communities
lose jobs and are left with the holes in the ground and toxic waste.”
The Thames Coromandel District Council has taken innovative steps toward a different economic vision–one that attracts
families and businesses to settle in the area while preserving the peninsula’s unique environment for future
generations. New initiatives include: the opening of the Hauraki Rail Trail, the expansion of mussel farming, and the
development of a business case for the Coromandel Great Walk.
“TCDC is heading in a positive direction that will help peninsula communities thrive. What has happened on the West
Coast, and in Waihi, confirms the toll a boom-and-bust industry can take on a community.”
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki
Protecting the Coromandel Peninsula from Mining
ENDS