We already have strong environmental safeguards in place meaning a ban on conservation land isn’t necessary.

New Zealand’s robust and far-reaching environmental protection laws are among the most stringent in the world. The Resource Management Act (RMA) is an independent forum that provides for an adversarial assessment of the social, environmental and economic impacts of a resource proposal both on and off conservation land. While the RMA is currently under review, it will remain the guiding legislation for some time yet.

In addition to this, mining companies know that the communities they operate in want them to safeguard the environment. Generally, mining companies have a strong commitment to rehabilitation, above and beyond what is required by the law, and mining projects should, and often do, achieve a net positive contribution to environmental outcomes.

A company wanting to explore an area to see if mining is viable, they must navigate three regimes:

Title for the mineral rights if the mineral is Crown owned – These are known as mining (or prospecting, or exploration) permits. Permits are granted, or declined, under the Crown Minerals Act (this Act is currently under review), which sets out a range of requirements that applicants have to meet in order to be granted access to the Crown’s minerals.

Land access – In New Zealand access agreements are negotiated with the landowner, who has the absolute right to grant or decline access. This requires the miner to build trust and confidence with the landowner, and often the wider local community. Where the landowner has a commercial interest in the land, a farmer for example, negotiations are normally relatively straight forward. The value generated by a mine on a unit area basis is always much higher than that generated by alternative commercial land uses, and an access arrangement is typically struck when the miner makes the deal worthwhile for the landowner.

For land in the conservation estate, DOC has traditionally issued access agreements under a range of criteria including assessed conservation values, conditions additional to those set under the RMA. Historically, most access applications from mining companies have been granted.

Consents for activities under the RMA, and other relevant legislation – The RMA is an “effects based” regime that considers the social, economic, and environmental aspects of any proposal. RMA consents are required, broadly, for any activity that disturbs or impacts the environment.

The RMA provides for an independent and robust process. Applications are considered by independent experts and any consents are subject to conditions that the authority considers are required to ensure that the impacts of the proposed activity are acceptable to society.

The current regime allows a case-by-case assessment of resource proposals with a high bar for mining companies to establish rationale and justification to mine.

If the process does not work, the Environment Court is the ultimate arbiter. This is free from political influence.