About 80 anti-mining protesters jeered Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee as he arrived in Thames this afternoon to talk to local iwi.
Mr Brownlee refused to answer questions from journalists as he met iwi leaders at a hui, with Hauraki Kaumatua Kaunihera Council invited to discuss views about opening up conservation land for mining.
Officers from the Ministry of Economic Development, Crown Minerals and the Department of Conservation were also at today's hui to answer technical questions.
The Government triggered controversy in March when it identified 7058 hectares of land it proposes removing from schedule four of the Crown Minerals Act - to pave the way for mining the conservation estate. Coromandel Peninsula land is among the areas affected.
Mae Courtney and her partner Hona Grant travelled from Taupo to Thames to voice their concerns.
Mr Grant said his main concern was the water quality.
Mrs Courtney said it would be a pity to see more areas of the Coromandel looking like Waihi, where there is an open cast gold mine and tailings dam.
"What's it going to be like for our grandchildren?" she said.
"I hope something positive will come out of this meeting today. I know there's a lot of questions which need to be answered.
"I'd like to know what it would mean for the iwi, and I'm also concerned about the water quality.
"I'd also like to know what's going to happen after they finish mining, and whether the land will be left like that (at Waihi), as they obviously can't put it back together," she said.
Amy Cooper, from the Ngati Maru iwi, had travelled from Turua to the meeting today.
She said she was there to listen to what Mr Brownlee had to say.
"Mining has been here for generations. I hate the scarring of the land, it's quite horrible and I'd hate to see it looking like Waihi.
"If they mine underneath the ground without scarring it so much I might have to look at it again," Mrs Cooper said.
Ecologist Gislaine Barros, from Brazil, has been living in New Zealand for a year.
"The Coromandel is beautiful and a great tourist attraction. The best way to keep it like that is by having no mining. This area is paradise and should not be destroyed," Ms Barros said.
Michael Moretto has lived in Coromandel town for nine years and said mining makes no sense.
"It's my homeland and I'd like to protect it. I don't want to see New Zealand make the same mistake with mining as Europe.
"The Coromandel is special and nature should have more value than gold," he said.
Jim Nicholls, chairman of the Hauraki Kaumatua Kaunihera Council, said the meeting would give Mr Brownlee the opportunity to tell his story.
"It also gives us the opportunity to tell him our story. And at some point there may or may not be a place where we can meet half-way, but it would be fair to say there are some Maori groups on the peninsula who have an interest in mining for a number of reasons, and that is their right.
"It's their land, and they see it as creating opportunities for their people and their community. So that is something we also have to tread carefully with," Mr Nicholls said.
Public submissions on the government's proposals close on May 26.
