Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki - Media Statement
Coromandel Watchdog are tramping into the bush today to protest at a drilling rig in the Parakiwai Valley near
Whangamata.
"The government's mining review last year would have many thinking that Coromandel conservation land is no longer
threatened by mining. The alarming reality is that high-value southern Coromandel Conservation Park land is being
actively drilled for gold by Newmont Waihi Gold," says Coromandel Watchdog spokesperson John Drummond.
Newmont is drilling in native forest conservation land in the Parakiwai Valley, (Wharekirauponga) just a few kilometers
inland from Whangamata.
"The drilling site is within a Conservation Department designated "special place", and was given this status because of
its high conservation, biodiversity, recreational and landscapes values. The area is the habitat for many native species
including endangered frogs, and native birds. It contains mature forest, and is in the headwaters of a river that flows
into an estuary at Whangamata beach."
"The drilling area is only a few hundred meters south of the Otahu Ecological Reserve. The government retained the Otahu
reserve in schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act in the recent mining review, keeping it protected from mining. 99% of
the 33,000 submitters specifically wanted the Otahu Ecological Reserve protected from all mining, because of the
reserve's outstanding biodiversity significance and conservation value. Newmont's exploration permit area and the Otahu
Reserve have indistinguishable conservation values."
"Newmont has repeatedly said it is accountable to the New Zealand public and will not operate in high conservation value
areas. But its drilling program shows the ugly reality of its activities and reveals that it's statements are nothing
but 'greenwash' public relations rhetoric", said Mr. Drummond.
“We are supporting the local group Earthwatch Whangamata who are concerned about the drilling in this area.”
If they continue drilling on Whangamata conservation land they can expect the same unrelenting opposition that kept gold
mining companies out of the northern Coromandel for the last 30 years," he said.
ends