{"id":270326,"date":"2026-02-06T07:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/270326\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T07:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:29:10","slug":"mining-sector-says-taranaki-seabed-plan-rejection-embarrassing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/270326\/","title":{"rendered":"Mining sector says Taranaki seabed plan rejection \u2018embarrassing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vidal said it was embarrassing that the decision had come out while New Zealand officials had been sent to Washington to discuss how the country could be part of a global supply chain of critical minerals.<\/p>\n

Trans-Tasman Resources said it had identified a world-class vanadium resource that could contribute a billion dollars annually to the New Zealand economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cVanadium is a very sought-after critical mineral around the world,\u201d Vidal said. \u201cIf we want to be part of a global supply chain and we have critical minerals, we should be mining them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vidal said the Government understood it had a role to play and that the mining plan would be good for the economy.<\/p>\n

It would also create more jobs, Vidal added, at a time when the unemployment rate was at its highest in a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to hope that people believe it, and not get sidetracked by thoughts, feelings and emotions, rather than actual science.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel found there would be a credible risk of harm to M\u0101ui dolphins, koror\u0101 and fairy prion, but Vidal said mining companies were well used to mitigating any kind of harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of the word \u2018may\u2019 and equally with \u2018may\u2019, there\u2019s \u2018may not\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they need to be clear what they\u2019re basing the \u2018may\u2019 on, because there\u2019s been evidence produced that there won\u2019t be harm to animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel also found there was uncertainty as to the scale and extent of the sediment plume and underwater noise generated from the project.<\/p>\n

It said the adverse impacts of the plan were out of proportion with its regional and national benefits.<\/p>\n

TTR executive chairman Alan Eggers<\/a> said he found it difficult to accept the panel intended to decline the project\u2019s environmental approvals with concerns on almost every aspect.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the concerns raised by the expert panel were fully addressed in our application, which was supported by leading expert evidence and comprehensive responses to issues raised during the hearings process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eggers said it was hard to reconcile why the panel did not accept the evidence the company provided.<\/p>\n

\"TTRTTR executive chairman Alan Eggers. Photo \/ Te Korimako o Taranaki<\/p>\n

TTR now had until February 19 to comment on the decision.<\/p>\n

The company would consider its options on what next steps it might take before the application decision was finalised, Eggers said.<\/p>\n

Despite the draft decision, Vidal remained optimistic about the future of mining in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand is really becoming a country where \u2018can\u2019t\u2019 is the default setting. It\u2019s very frustrating to always be told you can\u2019t do something.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s no wonder that people are leaving in droves for more optimistic land. It sort of feels like our long white cloud is a big cloud of negativity and doom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green Party, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori \u2018ecstatic\u2019<\/p>\n

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson told RNZ the decision to decline the mining plan was a win for the environment and the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely delighted to see the proposal not backed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Davidson said TTR would put profit before people and the environment if it tried to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow silly would they look \u2013 the message is already very clear. This is destructive, overrides local community voices and Te Tiriti, and it\u2019s harmful and dangerous to our environment, which people actually care about.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople marching through Patea in a h\u012bkoi to oppose seabed mining. Photo \/ Te Korimako o Taranaki<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have no support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davidson said, if the Government relied on seabed mining as a way to grow the economy, it was \u201cat a dead end\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s short-sighted, it\u2019s stupid, and it will not work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer told RNZ that the decision was also a win for those who had spent years opposing the plan.<\/p>\n

Led by Ng\u0101ti Ruanui iwi, the seabed mining proposal faced opposition across Taranaki and Te Tai Hau\u0101uru, she said.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people marched through the town of P\u0101tea to protest in October 2024, after it was revealed that the project was subject to fast-track legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a really long battle,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are all ecstatic, having the best Waitangi Day ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ngarewa-Packer said the project should never have made the list in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should actually be banned, as something that New Zealand should never, ever be supporting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur moana is not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vidal said it was embarrassing that the decision had come out while New Zealand officials had been sent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[132735,40370,2752,111,43,139,69,2170,26809,26343,312,54085,12975,16715],"class_list":["post-270326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-embarrassing","tag-gordon","tag-mining","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-plan","tag-pretoria","tag-rejection","tag-says","tag-seabed","tag-sector","tag-taranaki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}