Conservationists will oppose ANY hardrock mine

Conservationists will strenuously oppose ANY hardrock mine

Environment and Conservation Organisations Inc

P O Box 11-057, Wellington, eco@reddfish,co.nz

04) 385-7545

Conservationists will strenuously resist any hardrock mining in the Victoria State Forest Park, including the scaled down mine proposed by GRD Macraes under their original Crown Minerals Act application, says Cath Wallace, of the Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand , ECO.

The proposed access agreement under the Crown Minerals Act for access to mine the conservation park land would allow a huge waste rock dump, would still destroy native forest and allow the Devil's Creek catchment to be buried in toxic waste rock and tailings and the creek downstream to be polluted.

Talk that the concentrate would be removed and treated in Otago does not solve a thing. The rock removal and the grinding of tailings would be done on site and would still have to be dumped there. The birdlife and freshwater ecsosytem would still be destroyed. Hundreds of years of pollution would result from just 7-10 years of mining.

Cath Wallace says that she understands that all the organisations opposed to the big version of the mine also oppose the smaller one for all the same reasons.

We do not accept that this mine will go ahead. Macraes does not have a current or complete access agreement. There would be huge issues of liability and other questions to be resolved even if it were to go ahead - which we do not accept. We will continue to oppose it vigorously.

ENDS

For further information, contact Cath Wallace 04-389-1696 or 04 463-5713

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