Tama Potaka: Conservation Minister on the expansion of Macraes gold mine in Otago

A potential change of heart from the Department of Conservation, which rejected a bid to expand the country's largest gold mine in Otago.  

It initially declined Macraes' permit because details were missing on rehoming endemic lizards, a decision heavily criticized by Resources Minister Shane Jones.  

DOC now says there was a miscommunication, and it will work to progress the application.   

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka told Heather du Plessis-Allan DOC and the company which owns Macraes, OceanaGold, worked on the matter yesterday.  

He says they had a very productive meeting, and he expects they'll process the application swiftly. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It looks like Doc is going to do a U
turnover those lizards. They initially told McCrae's mind in Central
Otago no, they couldn't expand ten thousand lizards might die.
But then after media attention yesterday, they've taken another look
at the application. Tama Pautucker is the Conservation Minister and
with us now morning again, tommer.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Cure to here. They're great to talk with you again.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Is it going to be a yes.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, that's a matter that DOC and Oceana worked on yesterday.
That a very productive meeting. I expect that they're going
to progress that application very swiftly, environmental pregnantism and within
the rules.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Did you tell Doc to have another look at it.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
I've found out about this matter and I've said to
Doc what has happened here. They've admitted that infested up.
There was a miscommunication. They weren't clear about information requirements
for the customer, Oceana Gold, and they declined it too quickly.
So they have reviewed that and convened a very quick
COOIE with Oceana Gold senior management yesterday.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Why did they decline it too quickly?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Look, they received applications over a period of time with Oceania,
they were not clear about the information requirements and this
matter was not ultimately escalated to the senior management team,
and within DOC they've made a decision and declined when
they should have gone back to Oceana and said, look,
this is really what we need to do in order

(01:23):
to get this Lizard plan sorted in time for you
to carry on your good work down there in Otago.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Did they decline it too quickly, because actually you've put
the screws on DOC to get through that backlog of
applications and they've declined a whole bunch really quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
No. No, they just were not clear about the information requirements.
And for me, I've been really clear about my expectation
when there's a situation like this, followed the rules, but
be environmentally pragmatic and be aware of the economic context
that this country's operated in right now as well. Just
be aware.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Are you absolutely confident there aren't going to be other
cases like this that pop up? Get media attention? DOCS
made a dumb call and they're going to have to
go look at it again.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Are you sure well?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Is that they've declined, They've just whipped through what is
what was there. Their list in September was about thirteen
hundred applications. It's five hundred hour.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
It's reduced five hundred. No. I've been assured by Doc
that they do not want to be undertaking the mahey
that they're doing and miscommunicating with people, and that's my expectation.
They have to be very careful and communicate clearly with customers,
be customer focused and the customer assistance.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
I've been pointed to possibly another stuff up by them,
which is corkerdy Lime Quarry in the West Coast.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
You aware of this one, I'm not aware. I am
aware of one of the kukerdy Lime ones that was
sorted earlier this year, but I'm not right down in
the details.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
So what's happened here. What's happened here is the Fergusons
have applied for fifteen hectares of land to be able
to get the line out because they need it. They
need to they needed to keep flood war away and
stuff like that. So I've applied for fifteen hectares. They've
just been given one hectare. They only took the one
hectare because they've been waiting for five years for Doctor
give permission. Now, that seems to me like that's potentially

(03:11):
a problem.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, there's a number of applicants that have been weighing
a very, very long time, and that's why I've been
clear with Doc. You need to get onto it and
make decisions, but be very very aware of the context
that you're operating in and be environmentally pragmatic. Countries is a.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Solution to it to go Yeah, you can do it,
but only six percent of what you want.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Now. I'm not across the entire details of that particular
issue Heaven, and that's a matter that I can raise.
But I've just set expectations and I expect them to
be met.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
All right, come and listen. Thank you as always for
your time. You have yourself a lovely day. We'll talk
to you again soon. That's Tama Paultucker, Conservation Minister.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
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