Minerals Briefing Paper Launch at Parliament
PRESS STATEMENT FROM CHRIS BAKER, CEO STRATERRA
“Mining is vital to the way we live, and we believe it is time New Zealanders had the facts about how mining is
integrated into their everyday lives,” announced Straterra CEO Chris Baker, at the launch of Straterra’s Minerals
Briefing Paper at Parliament last night.
“The documents we are releasing this evening identify the key role that mining plays in the comforts and essential
services that we enjoy every day,” he said.
“Our cars and homes, our cellphones and our food, even the green energy we increasingly want to produce all depend to
some or a great extent on mining,” Mr Baker said.
“We want New Zealanders to have a clear appreciation of how mining impacts on their everyday lives, not just the lives
of the 8,000 people who are directly and indirectly employed in the industry,” he said.
“Most people have no idea at all of the extent to which we are dependent on minerals, including coal, for the things in
our lives we take for granted – food production, infrastructure, communications, even beverages such as beer. Either we
must import these minerals embedded in goods and services, or we must produce them ourselves – the latter option is much
better for New Zealand when we have the capacity to do so,” he said.
“The Minerals Briefing Paper released by Straterra identifies the significant contribution that mining makes to our
economy, and looks at some policy prescriptions that would be good for New Zealanders and the NZ economy,” he said.
Copies of the Minerals Briefing Paper and a subsequent 4 page document on why mining is vital to the way we live are
available on the Straterra website
Straterra has also developed a new website presence called “Mining4NZ” which outlines the facts and figures about the
benefits that mining brings to New Zealand, its communities and its consumers.
Ends