Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki are calling on the new Prime Minister and new Minister of Conservation Willow Jean Prime to immediately implement the 2017 promise to ban new mining activity on conservation lands.

“ The mining industry group Straterra are claiming a new Government Bill is about to be introduced this month to stop mining on conservation land, which although an excellent idea, is yet to be verified by Government. In fact the Government is sitting on its hands while mining activity continues to be developed on and under conservation land. Straterra are trying to manipulate the Government into abandoning their policy committed to in 2017. “says Coromandel Watchdog spokesperson Catherine Delahunty.

“Comments by Straterra last night claiming we must mine conservation lands because of the storm damage in places like Hauraki/Coromandel are ridiculous. We must protect all remaining forest and catchments from disturbance in order to protect the future for everyone. Climate change is impacting heavily on both rural and urban communities and the issue is fossil fuel emissions. Mining gold is a tiny part of the national economy and creates risks for our area with vast earth tailings dams of toxic waste .

The last thing we need right now is more gold mining. Its time to recycle gold, phase out coal and enable reuse of all rare earth metals. The Government must act responsibly and in line with their announced policy to protect conservation land immediately” Ms Delahunty said.

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