Hoping for poverty
July 2nd, 2012 at 3:00 pm by David FarrarNelson Mail reports:
Gold at Sams Creek in Golden Bay is now estimated at more than one million ounces, and worth about $2 billion – and that is just a start.
An announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange from the company exploring the area, MOD Resources, has revealed the gold resource at Sams Creek has been increased by 33 per cent to 1.024 million ounces.
With the price of gold in New Zealand dollars about $2000 an ounce, that is worth around $2b.
Significantly the company noted that gold was all contained within an 800-metre strike length of the main zone prospect, which represented less than 15 per cent of the known 6km strike length of the Sams Creek dyke.
That means there is potential for the gold resource to increase markedly.
Excellent.
She said Forest and Bird did not want the company there but it would woo local people with jobs which were hard to come by in Golden Bay.
Evil jobs. How dare they “woo” people with jobs.
“Hopefully the price of gold will come down so it will not be economic for them to mine
Praying for poverty I call this.
The Greens have said they are not against all mining, just all coal mining. Will there ever be an actual mine though the Greens do not oppose? Is their view that of Forest & Bird on this mine?
Related posts:
- Greens and Waihi
- Current mining on Section 4 land
- So much for not against all mining
- Poor West Coast
July 2nd, 2012 at 3:10 pm
We should listen to Forest & Bird and proceed with caution. Gold mining on this scale needs careful management, at the very least.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Just the time for us to be very cautious about anything that might make us some money and create some jobs.
Vote:No wonder we are poor.
July 2nd, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Gold mining worth upwards of 2 billion dollars.
Gold mining has a proud legacy of low environmental impact.
It would be criminal to curtail a reasonable expansion of this mine.
The local Taniwhas will just have to move to another pie in the sky, and then the bros like me can actually have a job.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Have you ever been there? Just saying you might like to before you tar everything with a tar seal road identity.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I thought Red Russ admitted that the Gweens were in favour of mining?
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:22 pm
The upside of statements like this, is that if political leaders are disciplined and articulate, they should be able to start slamming opponents and getting traction on support for greater utilisation of resources.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Has any census been done of the snail population organised migration may need to occur before operations can commence.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:44 pm
You’re aware Forest & Bird and the Green Party are two different things, right DPF?
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:47 pm
“Gold mining on this scale needs careful management,”
Really??
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Forest and Bird, ah what a bunch of interesting folk. I know them all too well. Quite literally bearded sandle wearers stuck in the 70′s, who cant even agree that publishing a huge paper brochure on a regular basis is a really useless waste of resources. Ive worked with some dysfunctional organisations in my time, but F&B takes the cake.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 3:56 pm
“Gold mining on this scale needs careful management,”
He’s a regular Captain Freaking Obvious aint he.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:03 pm
RRM – the last sentence of his post implies he is aware of that.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Forest & Bird is a backward-looking organisation whose membership is stuck in the soviet-style 50s.
Vote:As a repeater of doomsday Luddite theories, these foggies ought to be ignored.
July 2nd, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Let’s see:
- moratorium on fracking
- no offshore oil exploration
- 20% reduction in cattle numbers
Now, to add the the Green’s wish list, we have F&B wanting us to thumb our noses at $2bn+ worth of gold. (Even worse, they want the value of gold to drop, which will effect more than this single mining opportunity.)
The Greens could at least be a little more honest and campaign on the promise of a reduction in the standard of living.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Gold mining has a proud legacy of low environmental impact.
Where, on mars?
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Forest and Bird is an organisation of very good standing and actual environmental achievements. The resource consent process will be the best way to determine whether this is a good spot for a gold mine
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:45 pm
@mikenmild
“The resource consent process will be the best way to determine whether this is a good spot for a gold mine”
Give you that MM, you are always good for a laugh. The best way to determine whether this is a good spot for a gold mine is a geology report. The report is out and it has now been determined that this is a good spot for a gold mine.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:47 pm
I’m calling for an independant inquiry into this; “this” being the Greens’ repeated opposition to any initiative that is likely to result in jobs. And I’m also calling for a moratorium; a moratorium on the Greens calling for independant inquiries
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:48 pm
There’s nothing wrong with wishing that the price of gold will come down.
I also wish that it will come down.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Great O_A, given you have kn knowledge of the area, you can still confidently assert that it is suitable for mining.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 5:04 pm
@mikenmild
“Great O_A, given you have kn knowledge of the area, you can still confidently assert that it is suitable for mining.”
No mm no knowledge of the area at all. Just thought your statement was funny.
Read your statement again…
“The resource consent process will be the best way to determine whether this is a good spot for a gold mine”
A gold mining company (Experts in gold mining!) has determined there is gold in the ground. There being gold in the ground determines whether it is a good spot for a goldmine.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 6:07 pm
What bothers me is that it’s an Australian company doing the prospecting. How much of that $2bn will actually remain in NZ? Not a heck of a lot I’d gather.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Out of curiousity; Given the opposition by F&B to the mining of gold in an area which has little other opportunities for gainful employment, what alternative jobs would that organisation suggest would be ‘acceptable’ for the region? Perhaps its supporters here could enlighten us – what jobs are available NOW?
(And yes, this is a serious question)
BTW: I trust that it is realised that the area concerned has ALREADY been mined before, so no environmental issues about ‘pristine’ untouched land will apply.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 8:06 pm
Welcome to the generalisation thread
Some gold mining it is utterly awful with lots of cyanide related byproducts entering the water supply and other is less intruding than sticking in a road for a housing area.
If anyone thinks that we will ever have the awful mining methodologies implemented in NZ then they are smoking bad weed. That type of analogy is always used in the anti arguments.
Please, please, please mine.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 8:18 pm
I was born in Golden Bay, great spot.
Vote:From memory this gold find is somewhere up the Cobb Valley toward where the hydro station is but the gold isnt in Kahurangi Nat Park.
Forest and Bird has said it wants the crushed rock taken out of the valley to protect the water table.
There are fuckall jobs in Golden Bay other than the dairy factory, farming and tourisim and a bit of aquaculture/fishing.
Golden Bay Cement hasnt been made there in years.
The locals are a split of farmers and hippy/germans.
One of the best dope growing areas in NZ so I was told.
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Colville,
Are you suggesting that Ms Vaughan is just seeking to protect the flora of the region?
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Drinking water me thinks.
Vote:The Takaka river feeds the “pupu” springs some of the cleanest/clearest water in the world I think.
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:38 pm
No, the Pupu Springs do not come from the Takaka River. The water flows from deep aquifers under the mountain range. The water surfaces at the springs and flows into the river.
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 8:47 pm
trout, I seem to remember that the Takaka river (upstream) sinks into the ground and reappears in three places of which the pupu is one with the other 2 being at sea. But then… I have been drinking
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 8:50 pm
I dived the pupu years ago…apart from being very clear its fuuuuuuuuuuucking cold!
Vote:July 2nd, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Quite possible I am wrong, its been a while.
Vote:Point being tho GB has a rep for clean and green and twig and tweet are doing what they can to keep it like that.
I would love to see the mine happen tho in a well controlled way. Be great for the area and NZ.
July 3rd, 2012 at 2:26 am
Fuck it. It’s $2b worth of gold and anybody withholding that from the economy are economic terrorists. If the Green Party/Forest and Bird fools don’t want anybody to enrich their lives then they can piss off.
Why do these fools think they can dictate who can have the right to a better life?
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 7:36 am
I don’t think anyone is flatly opposing any mining at all. We have defined processes under the resource consent legislation to allow consideration of the effects of such proposals.
Vote:Sorry to sound a bit like Pete George, but maybe we should allow that to happen before we condemn the mine or insist that it proceed no matter what.
July 3rd, 2012 at 7:59 am
Mining in Golden bay..You have to be joking??
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 8:03 am
mikenmild
Hiding behind the RMA doesn’t cut it I’m afraid. Before the recent reforms, hippie house bus bound greenies cruised the country constituting a small group of professional objectors to a huge variety of economically viable projects that posed minimal environmental risk. But to these composting toilet types almost ANY project or development could be shown to have some seeming detrimental environmental impact. Since most of these obections were spurious the object was to merely throw a spanner in the works and use the RMA consenting process to bog the project down with endless appeals thus elongating both the project completion time and drive up the costs to the developer in the hopes that most would give up – a tactic that has been very successful. Even those that got all the way to Environment Court have to be able to pass muster with the Luddite judges who sit on that court. I’m sure there are some projects that do indeed pose an unacceptable danger to the environment but with current practices and technology, the number is quite few.
The Greens are not interested in any mining of substance – they are wedded to the dream of a whole new green economy that will magically appear when enlightened environmentalists can tax the hell out of private industry to provide endless subsidies to pet green projects. The trouble is that in the real world where this nirvana has already been attempted, there aren’t enough gullible tax payers left to keep shovelling the subsidies to keep solar and wind generation and electric car battery development going. Spain just suspended all its green energy subsidies after a 20 billion euro failed experiment in paying through the nose for green jobs. The US is seeing endless bankruptcies of solar and other green energy companies who’s subsidies/loan guarantees have run out. Germany and Britain have decided that wind power is not all its cracked up to be again requiring multi billion pound/euro subsidies to keep alive.
The more NZ voters listen to and follow the Green’s real agenda, the poorer we will continue to be compared to Australia or Canada where there is a more pragmatic approach to the exploitation of their natural resources.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 8:28 am
You exaggerate, considerably, the actual power of the environmental movement and underestimate the ability of companies to develop sustainable new enterprises. For example, if you were correct, Macraes would never have been able to open their mine in 2008.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 8:35 am
For every one Macraes there are 20 shelved projects killed by strategic opposition who used the RMA’s appeal process with ruthless efficiency. Yes some got through but many didn’t. I was challenging the faith you put in the RMA process which I believe is naive. Without the latest reforms, the long overdue Transmission Gully roading scheme would’ve finally been strangled by the very appeal process I cite. I fear that without further reform or unless this gold mine is deemed a strategically important project worthy of the new fast track provisions, it will never see the light of day.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 8:39 am
You have any statistics to back up that assertion? As for Transmission Gully, it appears that it can be built with acceptable environmental impacts; economically it is a disastrous waste of money.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 9:05 am
The whole mining v non mining epitomises all that is wrong with this bludging little country. We want the wealth and job creation of Aussie but in typical Kiwi fashion we do not want to pay the price of do the work.
We are on our way to third world status.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 9:09 am
Mikenmild
Vote:Owen McShane sure did. He acted for dozens of companies on the receiving end of this tactic. Not sure I could get the stats from his widow.
July 3rd, 2012 at 9:13 am
When vocal bystanders are able to prevent the construction of a power project to generate electricity out of thin air, that is a sign the pendulum has swung too far the other way… in this tree hugging leftie’s view.
People with very little at stake can obstruct very good endeavours with impunity under the RMA. It’s not right.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 9:36 am
mikenmild
Transmission Gully has ONLY been given the green light because of the recent RMA reform that created a limited appeals process for projects deemed to be of national importance. Under the old Act the project had languished for 20 years due to the opposition that was more recently forced to make their case quickly and succinctly. Transmission Gully as currently constituted may well have finally emerged after another 10 years and millions of more dollars of appeals but there was no guarantee that the various government agencies would’ve been willing to shouder even more cost overruns attendent to such lengthy appeals.
A case in point was the Puhoi extension to the Northern Motorway – RMA shenanigans doubled the cost of that project and more than doubled the time it took to complete all thanks to professional greenie opponents and their tactics.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 11:23 am
KIA
Vote:There is nothing wrong with a different process for projects that are nationally significant or beyond the scope of local authorities. As I said, the environmental concerns about Transmission Gully are as nothing against it’s disastrous economics.
But back to the proposed gold mine; why don’t we wait and see how a consent application fares?We don’t have any details about the proposal at all yet.
July 3rd, 2012 at 11:25 am
RRM
Are you volunteering to have a 120 foot high wind turbine in your backyard? If so, don’t forget to keep you head down when you go out to the clothesline.
Vote:July 3rd, 2012 at 12:01 pm
DVM
Vote:Not in HIS backyard, of course.
July 3rd, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Has anyone ever proposed to put a turbine in someone’s backyard by the clothesline? Grow up.
[FWIW I can see about a dozen of the West Wind turbines if I walk up to the top end of my street. They are magnificent. The grandest thing we've built in New Zealand for years. I don't know what all this supposed 'noise pollution' is that people piss and moan about.]
Vote:July 4th, 2012 at 12:49 am
Yes Joana, there are plenty of very valuable minerals in Golden Bay. Lets have em.
Vote:July 4th, 2012 at 10:57 am
It was my great great great grandfather who first discovered gold in Golden Bay, does that mean I get a cut?
Vote: