The West Coast is preparing for a mining boom, with the Resources Minister recently announcing the Government’s plans to double mineral exports by 2035.
With the current price of gold at a record high, things are going well, but there are questions about how towns in the region will benefit.
Development West Coast CEO Heath Milne told 1News the region had been thriving over the summer, with a good tourism season thanks to sunny weather.
He hoped to keep that momentum going as mining operations ramped up in the region.
“With the gold price, it’s over $5000 an ounce. We’ve never seen it that high,” Milne said.
“It’s creating a lot of interest and also a lot of investment is now coming into the Coast to try and actually grow that gold mining sector, but also other minerals too.”
The Government’s new national minerals strategy, which lists gold and 36 other materials are listed as “critical”, is helping to boost the sector.
“It’s pretty positive to hear that the Government is actually talking about opening up and doing more minerals because that’s what we’ve got here, and we’ve got a huge opportunity,” Milne said.
“We just hope that they can make things happen like they say they can.”
Economic growth
Development West Coast says for every one mining job in the region, two others are created elsewhere. One company was already signalling 100 new jobs at its mine.
But there will be questions about just how much economic return there will be for the Coast.
Milne said that it was an “issue” that historically, many of the benefits of mining have gone off the Coast.
“Is it going to bring benefits?” he said. “Well, it does. It brings really high-paying jobs and prosperity while they’re mining.”
After promising findings, Australian company Federation Mining is looking to build a processing plant.
“We’ll see a 10-year mine life where we’re processing gold on the West Coast,” Federation Mining vice president Simon Delander said.
Local businesses like Hose & Hydraulic Centre, which supplies equipment for everything from farming to mining and fishing, are looking forward to the growth.
“Everything helps because the Coast has taken a bit of a hit over the years with our coal mining,” owner Evan Grooby said.
“So anything like that is a boost to our economy. With the miners now getting deeper and stuff like that, it’s generally a bigger operation, so there’s always a flow-on effect with staff and wanting products, so it’s certainly good for the place.”
‘Rushing blindly in the wrong direction’
The Government’s mining plan has faced criticism from environmentalists, who have labelled it a “backwards step”.
“It’s hard to believe just how out of touch the New Zealand Government is on this. Coal is the filthiest fossil fuel. Burning it is destroying the climate,” Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said last month after gold and coal were added to the list of critical minerals.
“The science and economics are clear: Get out of coal mining as quickly as you can. The Government is rushing blindly in the wrong direction with these plans to massively expand opencast coal mines on public conservation land.”
