NZ’s mineral resources lobby finally put up a bit of a fight for at least exploring Schedule 4 conservation land last week, as polling and a flood of anti-mining submissions ahead of this week’s deadline for submissions on Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee’s minerals gambit showed the policy is passionately detested by a large minority of NZers. Brownlee went a long way out on a limb last September when he floated the idea of mining on conservation land and the sky didn’t fall in. The Govt has been back-pedaling ever since, and the issue can be expected to reassert itself this week as the hazy afterglow of a popular Budget last week fades.

However, decisions are a long way off – far enough away even to worry a suddenly gun-shy John Key to think they will play out in the lead-up to an election he should win comfortably, as long as there are no blunders. On the other hand, there is no official need for Select Committee hearings or Parliamentary debate. Schedule 4 can be changed by regulation rather than legislation, although the next step would be legislation to govern joint access arrangements. At this stage, there is no official timetable for report back. As the submissions deadline approached, NZX-listed issue Pike River Coal wrote to its 8900 shareholders urging they make submissions, while the fledgling resources lobby group Straterra expressed dismay at “a mass of false claims and inaccuracies spread by opponents.”

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Pike River is pointed on the subject of tourism and mining being able to live together, pointing out growth in West Coast tourism revenues since 2001 has been 31%, but observing also 300% growth in mining revenues in this time. PRC says one mining job produces 6.6 times as much wealth for NZ as one tourism job. PRC’s chairman also urged shareholders to focus on the fact mining in NZ generates $6.9bn in annual revenues, using just 40sqkm of land.

Meanwhile, the Beehive confirms there is a review of mining royalties getting under way, and a recognition NZ’s royalties are low by international measures. NZ’s 1.5% royalty on gold goes to 2% when the extracted total goes above $1.5m, but is still low, at face value, compared with Chinese and Australian states’ mining royalties. Using gold as a proxy for comparison, the World Bank says China charges a royalty at 4% of the value of extraction, plus a rate per tonne of ore, while New South Wales charges 4% on the value of gold extracted minus deductible expenses. Queensland charges 2.7%, and Western Australia 2.5%. The Northern Territory charges 18% on the net-back on the proceeds after production costs.

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