Publications

Minerals are essential to modern life and New Zealand is well placed to produce them in terms of geological resources and in managing impacts on people and the environment.

Demand for minerals – coal for steel, coal for energy, gold, aggregates, limestone, vanadium, ironsand, base metals, lithium . . . is driven by the standard of living we have in developed countries, and is demanded in developing countries.

Minerals are essential to modern life and New Zealand is well placed to produce them in terms of geological resources and in managing impacts on people and the environment. Demand for minerals…

Most people on waking up in the morning would be thinking of anything other than minerals. I am an exception, as are the thousands of people who work directly and indirectly in a sector that produces the materials we all need every day of our lives.

Minerals and mining are essential to New Zealand’s low-emissions transition. More mining is an inescapable reality, as the World Bank and the International Energy Agency have pointed out. We import most minerals as finished products.but locally the minerals industry also contributes to regional economic development, to jobs and to exports. Exports are always important to our economy but are particularly important in this Covid-19 world.

Mining in New Zealand is a story about opportunities. These are opportunities we want to see captured because of the many benefits they bring.

As the world races towards more reliance on technology and electricity, with generation mainly from renewable sources, it has become blindingly obvious that there will be no high-tech, low emissions energy transition without mined minerals. The catch  is, the demand for these minerals vastly outstrips supply so the world needs more mines, and fast.

This is an exciting time for mining and a golden opportunity for New Zealand where responsible mining is undertaken to some of the most exacting standards in the world – advantage New Zealand.