Four court actions are under way at present. Forest and Bird is taking legal advice and intending to review Conservation Minister Nick Smith's decision last week to allow Bathurst to mine on the Denniston plateau.
Forest and Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell said, when contacted, the organisation would review Dr Smith's decision to allow mining on the conservation land, with the ''possibility'' a legal challenge might be considered.
Aside from the two appeals being heard this week, Forest and Bird and Bathurst will return to the Environment Court next month to offer proposed, new and modified mining conditions for the court to consider, then the Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on climate change issues, having being excluded from resource consent hearings.
When asked, Mr Hackwell said ''yes'', hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent by Forest and Bird on litigation.
''We take litigation very carefully ... we haven't taken this lightly at all,'' he said of the mounting legal costs.
The appeals this week by Forest and Bird are over the Sullivan permit on the plateau and the adjoining Escarpment project, which Mr Hackwell believed should be considered together, not separately.
On the question of Forest and Bird and Bathurst working together to come up with new conditions to present to the Environment Court, Mr Hackwell would say only they were ''still negotiating'' with Bathurst.
Bathurst's managing director, Hamish Bohannan, said Dr Smith's approval last week ''completes another key step in getting the mine up and running''.
He said Bathurst's focus now was completing the consenting process through the Environment Court and the company had provided that court with additional detail concerning the environmental protection and mitigation measures.
