A watchdog keeping an eye on mining industry
William Lindqvist (Letters ODT 20.2.25) is quick to apply the standard mining industry dismissal of the alternative viewpoint expressed by Tony Williams as an "emotional diatribe". That position would be well-rehearsed by Mr Lindqvist, who I understand is a veteran of the global mining corporate world. Readers might see this as a relevant factor.
Mr Lindqvist fails to mention that New Zealand already contributes to the world many of the metal and mineral components he says we benefit from; we produce and export large quantities of iron-sands, high grade steel, aluminium, coal, water and we meet most of our own demand for cement, concrete, glass, aggregate and a wide variety of related products.
What Mr Lindqvist also conveniently omits is that there is no direct social good from the gold from mining that he and Minister Shane Jones want so much from beneath valuable Otago land. Most of the gold produced here doesn’t go into jewellery as he would have us believe; it is shipped away to be stored back under the ground in secure vaults for a pittance in royalties. All of the current and anticipated future needs for gold as a luxury commodity and for componentry can be met through the much more efficient and sustainable process of recovery from electronic waste that otherwise ends up in landfill here or overseas.
In the interests of full disclosure, I am a founding member of the watchdog group that advocates for people who are against exploitative and destructive gold mining. We stand for the protection of the whenua (land), the forests, rivers, harbours and people of the Coromandel and beyond. We need a local group to do the same for the people and taonga (treasures) of Otago.
[Abridged — length. Editor.]
Trade offs
To answer William Lindqvist, there is always a trade-off between mining and the environment, and this is not the moment to debate growth versus de-growth and the ways or virtues of reducing our consumption of mined materials. We are talking here quite specifically about gold mining in Central Otago.
Small amounts of gold are used in computers and cell phones, but none in the other items on his list. Conservative estimates suggest that there is sufficient gold already mined to meet the world’s needs for at least 200 years.
While independent businesses have many motivations, a corporation must maximise returns to shareholders. That includes minimising taxes, which a multinational corporation is in a unique position to do by moving profits around the world to low tax regimes.
Mining licenses do require the "rehabilitation" of the land, but history tells us that this is frequently not executed.
Over the past 65 years industry has systematically worked to reduce labour input in order to reduce costs, so the labour force needed is now greatly reduced, and the necessary skill level increased, which reduces the local jobs available. Lindqvist encourages me to visit Macraes gold mine, but just down the road is the township of Palmerston which shows no sign of the wealth that mining is supposed to bring.
Full disclosure
Thanks ODT for informing us about a "racial slur" written on a customer's docket. However, what was actually written? Surely we should be allowed to decide for ourselves whether to be disgusted by the words or appalled at the sacking?
[The ODT chose not to cause further offence by publishing the words in question when it ran a photograph of the customer’s docket. The staff member involved was dismissed for unjustifed behaviour. The unaltered image is available on-line should Mr Gardyne wish to view it for himself. Editor.]
If I wanted to live in a city I’d move to one
I was dismayed, sickened and distressed to read your lead article (22.2.25) on Glyn Lewers, Mayor of Queenstown Lakes District Council. His fixation on uncontrolled growth for our fragile region is unbelievable.
The ruination of the Queenstown area is almost complete, the despoliation of Wānaka and Hāwea is well under way. He speaks of a growing population promoting increased infrastructure and "capturing the value of growth", whatever that means. What weasel words these are; as Queenstown's growth has now clogged up their roads, and as reported by the ODT, their state-of-the-art sewage system has apparently failed and is spewing sewage into the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers. Hāwea doesn't even have a sewage system that can cope with its growth and he calls for more of the same, this time hoping to wreck the character of Cromwell and Alexandra as well. I say leave well alone. Some of us enjoy living in a rural environment: if we wanted to live in a city we would move there.
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