Is this what people were worried about when mention was made about mining in Paparoa might happen?? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10677018
Forest & Bird » Threats & Impacts
Pike River to start testing Paparoa
(9 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Don't worry about it. There are much more pressing conservation issues. Pike River Coal Company are mining two major seams and this is the one that is lower down and under the one that they have started mining.
They are desperately trying to build up public confidence in their company after missing just about every deadline for coal production that they have set themselves. This has occurred not because of any environmental delays, but because they constantly minimise the technical difficulties that they have in their actual underground mining operation.
They have to maintain a brave face for their shareholders and financiers so they keep on talking up their prospects and talking down the delays.
Pyke River Coal (PRC) needs to focus on getting their own mining operation running to schedule and forget about playing politics with any Minister of Energy initiated mining plans for conservation land.
I think that the new Chief Executive that PRC have just appointed will be under clear instructions to get the company running properly and not to seek to upset environmental lobby.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Guess their desperation to build public confidence has taken a resounding blow!
Posted 1 year ago # -
There is a bit of nasty 'anti-conservation" stuff starting to come to media attention around the Pike River disaster.
The Holmes Q+A show last Sunday (28 November) suggested that DOC restrictions limited the venting of methane through ventilation shafts dug to the surface in the Paparoa National Park.
There have also been some silly suggestions that the mining should have been done by open cast methods...ignoring the whole mountain that would have had to be removed to access the underground coal seams. A totally uneconomic and impractical prospect.
Pike River Mine was oft quoted by PM John Key and Gerry Brownlee earlier this year as the model of "Surgical Mining" that they wanted followed for other National Parks.
As well as the tragedy for the miners lost and the terrible impact that will have on their families and communities, it is worth reflecting for a moment on the terrible economics of the Pike River Mine.
The company reports that $290 million has been spent getting the mine developed to this stage. A total of $9 million of coal has been sold from the mine. The TV3 photos tonight of coal fires burning 30 metres out from the mine ventilation shafts must now make it highly doubtful if the mine will ever re-open.
The Royal Commission will spend a lot of time hearing evidence and determining the cause of the tragedy.
Right now though, even without the Commission's report, it is very clear that in terms of the "triple bottom line" much loved by modern business, no matter how you view it, Pike River has been an environmental, economic and social tragedy.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Will be very interesting to see where Brownlee and Key try to go from here re mining in conservation areas. Stick to ones close to the surface which can be open cast and hope everyone forgets that they declared a few short months back they'd never contemplate those sort of messy mining operations? Their waxing lyrical about "keyhole surgery mines" has taken a real body-shot - they won't continue down that line of thinking now, I reckon. For them you can add a fourth tragedy, Tawaki, one to their political egos! And that's probably the most dangerous of all...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Careful of the schadenfreude.
Posted 1 year ago # -
No delight, just reality. Fear about how retribution might be taken by the pollies isn't insensitive, unless people choose to see it like that of course. Anticipating open cast only mining is in no way a delight.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Think you're over-reacting whanahuia. No "told ya so" here I can see, more like "be careful, what's gonna happen now"
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sorry, realised what people mightn't have noticed is that this posting was started before the recent accident at the mine; it was started during the debates about mining on conservartion land. It's just been picked up again since.
Posted 1 year ago #
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