Minerals Briefing Paper Launch at Parliament

PRESS STATEMENT FROM CHRIS BAKER, CEO STRATERRA

“Mining is vital to the way we live, and we believe it is time New Zealanders had the facts about how mining is integrated into their everyday lives,” announced Straterra CEO Chris Baker, at the launch of Straterra’s Minerals Briefing Paper at Parliament last night.

“The documents we are releasing this evening identify the key role that mining plays in the comforts and essential services that we enjoy every day,” he said.

“Our cars and homes, our cellphones and our food, even the green energy we increasingly want to produce all depend to some or a great extent on mining,” Mr Baker said.

“We want New Zealanders to have a clear appreciation of how mining impacts on their everyday lives, not just the lives of the 8,000 people who are directly and indirectly employed in the industry,” he said.

“Most people have no idea at all of the extent to which we are dependent on minerals, including coal, for the things in our lives we take for granted – food production, infrastructure, communications, even beverages such as beer. Either we must import these minerals embedded in goods and services, or we must produce them ourselves – the latter option is much better for New Zealand when we have the capacity to do so,” he said.

“The Minerals Briefing Paper released by Straterra identifies the significant contribution that mining makes to our economy, and looks at some policy prescriptions that would be good for New Zealanders and the NZ economy,” he said.

Copies of the Minerals Briefing Paper and a subsequent 4 page document on why mining is vital to the way we live are available on the Straterra website

Straterra has also developed a new website presence called “Mining4NZ” which outlines the facts and figures about the benefits that mining brings to New Zealand, its communities and its consumers.

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