Mining in New Zealand
Mining in New Zealand began when the Māori quarried rock such as argillite in times prior to European colonisation.
A 2008 report estimated that the unexploited resources of just seven core minerals (including gold, copper, iron and molybdenum) totalled around $140 billion in worth.
The government of the day acknowledging the importance of coal mining to the country's economic and social structure, declared it to be an essential industry.
[12] New Zealand coal reserves are in excess of 15 billion tonnes, mainly in Waikato, Taranaki, West Coast, Otago and Southland.
[13] By the end of 2021 production was from 15 opencast mines,[14] the largest being Stockton (see Environmental issues below), which produced 984,951 tonnes that year.
The largest coal mining company was Solid Energy, a state-owned enterprise, until its collapse in 2015, but is now Bathurst Resources.
It is estimated to adversely affect 125 kilometres of streams mainly in the Buller District of the West Coast Region of the South Island.
Structural failure of historic underground mine workings have led to subsidence, cracking and collapse on properties in Waihi, a township that has built up around the current open pit.
[24] Stockton poses a threat to some native species, although has carried out significant biodiversity conservation work in the region, and mountaintop removal mining has happened on the site in recent years.
Over a one hundred-year period Mount Smart in Auckland was mined to such an extent that it is now level with the surrounding land.
[25] Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is attracting funding in the billions of dollars as part of global efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions.
[27] However, in the New Zealand context, University of Canterbury researchers authored a 2009 paper on CCS published in the peer-reviewed journal Energy Policy.
The paper considered the permanence of CO2 storage was uncertain and that CCS was unlikely to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
[29] In 2008, Solid Energy trialled CSG extraction at the Waikato coal fields, for use in electricity generation.
[30] Deep-sea metallic mineral deposits in the Kermadec volcanic arc are attracting research into how they are formed and how they influence the surrounding undersea biodiversity.
[31] Mineral-rich fluids coming out of seafloor hot springs contact cold sea water and precipitate out high-grade ore deposits containing gold, copper, lead, zinc, iron, manganese and other metals.
[33] Current research led by the GNS Science and the University of Auckland is tipped to enable cheaper geothermal energy, and identify new systems in the Central North Island for development.
Work is underway in New Zealand to determine economically viable deposits, and technologies for safe extraction.
The Cypress Mine, planned for the Westport area, is opposed by the Save Happy Valley Coalition due to effects on landscape values, biodiversity and climate change.
A speech by the Minister for Economic Development Gerry Brownlee to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in August 2009[40] provoked a reaction from environmental groups.
In 2008 a number of mainly gold and coal producing companies in New Zealand set up Straterra, an incorporated society, as a lobby group for the NZ resource sector.
