Bathurst Resources says the Environment Court will issue consent for its Escarpment coal mine on the West Coast's Denniston plateau, but the saga appears far from over.
Bathurst has been mired in litigation with environmentalists for
almost two years, delaying its operational start-up by about 18 months. About
$250 million has been spent on mine purchases and infrastructure.
The indication consents were about to be granted was welcomed by Bathurst, but criticised by the Green Party, which
said it meant the destruction of ''one of the most unique native ecosystems in the world''. Forest and Bird top of the south field officer Debs Martin said the organisation was considering its legal options.
''We are concerned that the [Environment] Court has backed away from some of the requirements it placed on Bathurst Resources in its first interim decision, without any real change to justify that shift,'' Ms Martin said.
The Green Party immediately called for a public demonstration outside the Wellington offices of mining lobby group Straterra yesterday.
Bathurst managing director Hamish Bohannan said the Environment Court consent was subject to amendments to the conditions of consent, but those would ''not be difficult to address''.
''The [Environment] Court has made it clear that consent will be forthcoming,'' Mr Bohannan said in a market statement yesterday.
''Once consent is granted, Bathurst can move into the first stages of operations,'' he said.
However, Ms Martin said the interim decision ''still leaves Bathurst far from the point'' of starting mining.
''Bathurst does not have permission to use the public road up to and on the plateau for its coal trucks,'' noting 92 daily truck trips would pose a risk to the annual 20,000 visitors to the plateau.
The ''overall outcome'' also depended on a pending Supreme Court decision on whether climate change is relevant to resource consent applications and a Court of Appeal decision on the mine's cumulative impact on the plateau and adjacent Sullivan mine, she said.
In late May, Minister of Conservation Nick Smith granted Bathurst access to the plateau, which is conservation land, in return for $22 million compensation package for a neighbouring area.
Green Party mining spokeswoman Catherine Delahunty said yesterday the Government was ''ripping open'' a rare and stunning landscape for coal mining.
''The Denniston Plateau isn't just any old piece of the conservation estate. Its sandstone plateau ecosystem is home to bonsai gardens of rata, tussock, and pigmy pine; home to great spotted kiwi, carnivorous giant snails and green geckos,'' she said in a statement.
The only other place ''remotely like'' the Denniston plateau was the adjoining Stockton plateau above Westport, which had been ''destroyed forever'' from decades of opencast coal mining.
