New Talisman Gold chief executive Matthew Hill has criticised protesters over the way they conducted themselves earlier this morning.

Protesters blocked the entrance to the mine in the Karangahake Gorge, and were physically removed by police.

'It's the largest response from this minority group to date,” says Matt.

'We waited for the police to arrive. As I understand it, the protesters refused to get out of the way, so arrests were made.”

Nine protesters were arrested, before being released immediately. An additional protester was also arrested and released, but was promptly rearrested after returning to block the gate at the mine's entrance once more.

'We're very grateful to the assistance of police. Unlike previous demonstrations, these guys were predominantly troublemakers.”

Matt says earlier in the week, some protesters attempted to climb down a ‘near-vertical' 15 metre embankment near the mine, while some of his staff were in the area.

'My staff tried to warn whoever was there to be careful, and next thing you know an old lady fell down the vertical embankment.

'Our mine staff attended to the lady who had fallen, and offered to give the protesters a ride out, but they declined and climbed back up the hill. They could have really hurt themselves.”

Matt says the mine has no problem with peaceful demonstrations, but he accuses the protesters of verging on criminal behaviour, particularly after this morning's protest, in which he alleges a protester jumped in front of a contractor's vehicle and ‘smashed' the bonnet.

'The ideal resolution is for them to follow the normal democratic ways to protest, and to do it lawfully.”

He says the protests have thus far had no impact on the mine's work.

'It hasn't disrupted operations at all. Our prospecting work continues, and we are well ahead on both budgets and successful developments.”

Protect Karangahake spokesperson Holly Dove refutes some of the claims made by Matt about the protests. In particular she says no one jumped in front of the contractor's vehicle – it was the driver who was at fault.

'We have footage of a worker ramming a person, and he's been given a warning by police over his manner of driving.”

She says she was also present at the incident involving the embankment, but maintains she and her colleague safely climbed down to take photos of the mine site.

'We're adamantly peaceful in our protests. We use our bodies, not aggressively, but to stand our ground.”

Criticism has also been levelled at the way the group has gathered signatures for their petitions. In a statement they claim ‘tens of thousands' of people have made submissions and signed petitions in opposition to the mining of conservation land in New Zealand.

One of these is a petition hosted by Avaaz, a website that allows anyone sign a petition with their name and email address.

Although it possible to sign the petition with a nonsensical name and email address, Holly says there are procedures in place to ensure all signatories are authentic.

'Avaaz have assured us the cross-check all the signatures. We suspect some people have been trying to sabotage our petition by putting in fake email addresses, although we can't confirm that.”

She says a rally is planned next month to hep galvanise support for the group's cause.

'The next step is showing the mining company and rest of New Zealand that we won't stand for mining on conservation land. We've got a big rally coming up on September 2, so we want as many people from around the country come to support us at Karangahake Hall.”

She says people can find the details on the Protect Karangahake Facebook page.

The Green Party has also criticised the government for allowing the mining operation to ahead.

'People are being forced to take a stand and put themselves in harm's way to protect this beautiful conservation area at Mount Karangahake because the government won't,” said Coromandel-based Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty.

'The National government has got its priorities totally wrong when it actively encourages mining on conservation land and people have to protest peacefully and risk arrest to defend the natural and recreational values of precious conservation land.”