Say no to the mega mine

Forest & Bird is fighting (again) to save Denniston’s ancient landscape, home to plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. This time will be harder as the government has silenced conservation voices with its undemocratic process.

The Denniston Plateau was millions of years in creation with its layers of elevated sandstone pavement, a mosaic of wetlands, and scant soils forming a unique “lost world” ecosystem, home to plants and animals that have evolved to thrive in this challenging landscape. 

On this cool, wet, and windy plateau, dwarf forests of rātā and pygmy pine grow low to the ground, while many endemic invertebrates, such as land snails, wētā, and moths, have evolved to be giants. 

The microclimate keeps introduced predator numbers low, creating a precious mainland island refuge for many vulnerable range-restricted endemic species, including two kinds of gecko, mātātā South Island fernbird, and roroa great-spotted kiwi. 

“Denniston is special. It should be permanently safeguarded as a scientific reserve and given a level of protection similar to that of a national park,” said Scott Burnett, Forest & Bird’s Save Denniston spokesperson. 

“Instead Denniston is under imminent threat of destruction, with proposed open-cast coal mining on a vast scale. One of the mines on the plateau would cover an area the size of downtown Auckland or Wellington. 

“Once this Gondwana-era landscape has been ripped up by bulldozers, the last of its kind will be gone forever.” 

The mine would be built by majority-foreign-owned Bathurst Resources Ltd. Under the Buller Coal Plateau Continuation Project, the company is seeking to: 

• Massively expand the mothballed Escarpment Mine
• Build a new coal mine in an untouched area (Mt Frederick South/Deep Creek)
• Construct a 19.7km coal haulage road, the Upper Waimangaroa Transport Corridor, linking the new mines with Bathurst’s existing Stockton Mine infrastructure
• Operate the mines for 25 years, digging up 20 million tonnes of coking coal.

Bathurst’s mega-mine is one of the most environmentally damaging of all the projects currently listed for government fast-tracking. It proposes long-term, open-cast coal mining on ecologically invaluable public conservation land, with minimal public consultation. 

We’ve been here before, most recently in 2011, when Forest & Bird launched a public campaign and took legal action to try to stop mining taking place at Denniston. 

More than 10,000 New Zealanders signed our petition, while branches, staff, and campaign supporters travelled to Denniston for a bioblitz in 2012 to document the native plants and animals living at Denniston, resulting in the discovery of two new-to-science species. 

Forest & Bird’s lawyers defended Denniston at an Environment Court hearing, the largest and costliest legal action the Society had ever undertaken against a well-resourced mining company. 

The court ruled in favour of consents to mine but required pest control and land rehabilitation efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts. Conservation Minister Nick Smith subsequently granted the mining company permission to mine conservation land, against his own officials’ advice. 

The Escarpment Mine opened in 2014 with the promise of 225 direct jobs and a bright economic future. But only a small amount of coal was dug up before coal prices fell. Two years after it opened, production halted and it hasn’t been mined since. 

The mine covers only 1%–2% of the plateau, leaving the vast majority of life on Denniston to carry on thriving as it has for millions of years (see overleaf). 

The plateau could be developed into a visitor attraction, a place where people go to walk in the wilderness and learn about New Zealand’s precious biodiversity and fascinating mining heritage. This historic mining took place underground last century and largely left the surface intact. 

But that is not the kind of future Bathurst Resources has in mind. To access the coal deep underground, Bathurst must obliterate the sandstone pavements and irrevocably destroy the plateau’s fragile ecosystem. 

The company is expected to seek consents for its Buller Coal Plateau Continuation Project this spring, using the government’s Fast-Track Approvals Act. 

Designed to streamline development, at the expense of public participation, the highly controversial legislation inherently favours economic arguments over robust environmental protection. 

There is a real risk that the voices of the local community and environmental groups, including Forest & Bird, will not be able to be heard. 

Forest & Bird will be seeking the opportunity to provide comments on the proposal. 

“We trust that the panel appointed to consider the miner’s plans will agree that Forest & Bird should be consulted on this,” added Scott. 

“We think that the environmental impacts of the Buller Coal Plateau project are so significant that consent for the mines should be declined.”

Voices of Denniston

Listen to West Coast local Terry Sumner and others talk about why Denniston is special at https://bit.ly/4lxpRft.

Te Kuha mine site. Credit: Neil Silverwood