Denniston mine returns to Environment Court

The Environment Court will reconvene tomorrow ahead of its final deliberations on whether it will allow an open-cast mine on Denniston Plateau to go ahead. Conservation organisation Forest & Bird and the Australian mining company Bathurst Resources will be at the Environment Court in Christchurch to present on the outstanding matters from the interim decision in March.

The Court had indicated that the mine was “likely” to go ahead if conditions that could appropriately mitigate environmental damage could be found.

The Environment Court will consider subsequent discussions between parties on these matters, in addition to the High Court’s decision last week regarding several points of law that arose during the initial hearing.

Forest & Bird’s appeal of Bathurst’s resource consents was heard late last year, on the grounds that the plateau’s conservation values are too high to be destroyed.

What: Royal Forest & Bird Society of NZ Incorporated v Buller District Council and others
When: 10am, Wednesday 12 June
Where: Cambridge Terrace Court House, Christchurch

ENDS

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