In line with last week's leak to environment group Forest and Bird, Minister of Mining and Energy Gerry Brownlee yesterday said the Government was considering opening up 7058ha of schedule four conservation land.
Those areas include tracts of Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel and Paparoa National Park in Westland.
Apart from the initial area, Mr Brownlee said about $4 million would be spent over the next nine months gathering information about further conservation estate areas, including some currently protected under schedule four.
They include Northland, the Kaikoura Ranges, Dun Mountain east of Nelson, the Longwood area in Southland and parts of Stewart Island.
Yesterday's discussion document ruled out mining in Kahurangi and Mount Aspiring National Parks as "there has to be some part of the conservation estate that receives that degree of protection", Mr Brownlee said.
In announcing the Government's discussion document opening up public consultation on the proposals, Mr Brownlee cited New Zealand's "parlous financial position" as the driver of his Government's stocktake of mineral wealth in the conservation estate.
The areas the Government intends removing from schedule four are estimated to contain minerals worth $60 billion.
Mr Brownlee said the minerals extracted would be put to use in green technologies such as the manufacture of hybrid cars, wind turbines and even low-energy lightbulbs.
However, the Government's initial interest appears to be in gold and coal.
Mr Brownlee said officials proposed taking a further look at 450,000ha of schedule four land, but were told to "go back and and tell us about more specific mineral deposits".
Prime Minister John Key said the result was that areas the Government was proposing removing from schedule four were "limited to pinpoint areas on which it has good initial information on significant mineralisation".
The area the Government wanted opened for mining totalled 0.2% of the Crown's conservation estate, Mr Brownlee said.
In line with another tip from Forest and Bird, Mr Brownlee confirmed the land removed from schedule four would be offset by the addition of 12,400ha of new areas.
Forest and Bird's Kevin Hackwell said that land, half of which is marine reserves, had already been slated for inclusion in schedule four before the stocktake.
"They should not be seen as trade-offs for high-value conservation land being removed from schedule four, because none of the [12,400ha] has significant mining potential," Environmental groups were quick to seize on plans to open up further areas of the conservation estate for mining.
The Government had "crossed the line" and risked damaging New Zealand's clean, green image abroad, world conservation union New Zealand spokesman Bruce Jefferies, of Wanaka, said.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's oldest and largest global environmental network, seeks to safeguard some key conservation zones through its World Commission on Protected Areas.
Forest and Bird Otago-Southland conservation officer Sue Maturin was concerned about proposals to consider mining parts of Stewart Island.
She took no comfort from the apparent lack of emphasis on mining in the Mount Aspiring National Park.
"It's like pulling down churches for their bricks.
"We're not in desperate need for minerals and our national parks should be sacrosanct," she said.
Mr Jefferies said he felt a sense of "trepidation" and unease about Government proposals to open up schedule four land for mining.
New Zealand's conservation "integrity" was now at risk, he said.
Under a previous National Government, schedule four land had been identified as a "line in the sand" but this line had now been crossed and other protected areas could also be included in future.
Mr Jefferies' group would be studying the Government's discussion paper and would respond in a measured way, he said.
Ms Maturin said New Zealand had "always been regarded internationally as leaders in conservation".
The mining proposals were putting New Zealand's international reputation at risk and risked damaging "New Zealand's reputation as a leader in conservation".
