FROM: Gestalt Conservation Trust

Open Letter
RE: SENZ RC01104/1 Clean Water Discharge
To: Mark Pizey Solid Energy New Zealand

Greetings Mark,

We are totally frustrated with SENZ inability and obvious unwillingness to comply with its resource consents and mining licence conditions.

I bring to your attention a video of a discharge from the very latest resource consent RC01104/2 granted to your company. At the hearing for this consent Ngakawau River Watch provided video evidence that your latest and greatest technology failed to do its job for over a year before your were granted consent.

You provided statements from supposedly qualified personnel that upgrades would ensure an improvement in water quality from your system that you built before you were even granted consent. We haven't noticed any improvement, infact I think I think the clean water discharge is getting worse. Are you diverting contaminated water to your un-monitored clean water discharge in an attempt to comply with conditions on RC01104/1?.

Your clean water discharge pipe continuously discharges black sludge and when it rains discharges large quantities of filthy black water. As far as this community is concerned you have never taken environmental issues seriously and never will. You can't rely on the full support of an inept WCRC forever. I have sent a copy of this email to various organisations so they may become are aware of the problems the communities of Granity, Ngakawau and Hector face. Hopefully they will show an interest in our plight and take some form of action to stop SENZ treating our back yard as its toilet. As you are fully aware this is 'clean water' discharge is the most minor pollution problem we face from SENZ.

I have included below the photograph we presented at the hearing and a copy of a news article on Richard Anstiss' paper which SENZ held up from been published for nearly 5 years. If you were really committed to reducing environmental contamination you would encourage Richard to repeat his study and demonstrate clearly and transparently that you have cleaned up your act.

Regards Stephen Brooker
Chairperson Gestalt Conservation Trust
1 Main Road Ngakawau

Mines 'hosing out' toxins - scientist

Auckland, March 14

The Government should be doing more to protect the countryside against toxic contamination from mines, an Auckland scientist says.

Dr Richard Anstiss, an environmental geo-chemist who teaches at the Auckland University of Technology, is director of the Trace Element Research Group which investigates contaminated sites.

His peer-reviewed study of the West Coast's Stockton CoaImine, based on data collected in 1996, will be published in a Royal Society of New Zealand journal this month.

He said he was not surprised by the levels of toxic chemicals found in streams near the mine, owned and operated by state-owned Solid Energy, but believed the amount of pollution from coal and gold mining was higher than the GovemIroent wanted to acknowledge.

"I think the amount coming out of those mines is more than what is acceptable," he said.

A study of streams flowing from the Stockton mine, 35km northeast of Westport, found high levels of toxic chemicals. Of 18 water sampling sites, 17 showed levels of chemical contamination well over Ministry of Health drinking water standards.

The peak level for nickel in some streams was up to 36.5 times the maximum allowable for drinking water. Arsenic peaks were 4.2 times the ministry standard and lead levels were 3.4 times over the standard. The average concentration of nickel in streams was eight times over the ministry's standard.

Dr Anstiss said the chemicals had a range of toxic effeds and tended to accumulate in the environment and the animal and plant life of the local regions. That meant the chemicals could reach humans through consumption of water or fish. Solid Energy technical manager Mark Pizey said streams which take run-off from the mining operations on the Stockton plateau were not used for drinking water or irrigation.

The streams had naturaly-raised trace element concentrations due to the geology of' the area as well as historic and current mining adivities.

Since Dr Anstiss and his team carried out the field work in 1996, the company had made "significant advances" in the monitoring and management of water discharged from the Stockton plateau, Mr Pizey said.

Dr Anstiss was sceptical, and said: "I don't believe the situation would have changed much."

He also believed Stockton mine was just one of dozens of both coal and gold mines in New Zealand "hosing out" toxic material.

"'Obviously you can't have a mining industry and have no pollution whatsoever - but it's a question of whether you have a little or whether you have heaps."

That was a political decision, not a scientific one, he said.

Chronic, longer-term localised contamination problems such as those found near the Stockton mine had to be given priority even if that meant less commercially oriented solutions.

Dr Anstiss said transparent monitoring systems had to be introduced rather than the "piecemeal approach carried out now in which local and regional governments were responsible for regulating mining in their areas.

Small councils lacked resources and expertise to monitor complex pollution issues and often only the mining company had the data on how much leakage there was from mines.

Dr Anstiss said that in small communities, companies had a lot of influence.

"Responsibility for mining has devolved to local councils but that has led to a lack of: transparency."

He said scientists were willing to help companies by advising on how chemicals' could be removed before they entered the environment.

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