A trio of Labour Party candidates are 'appalled” at the decision to open up the Karangahake Gorge for a bulk sampling and trial mining programme, saying it puts profits over environmental protection.

Tauranga candidate Rachel Jones, Bay of Plenty candidate Clare Wilson and Coromandel candidate Korbinian Poschl say the area contains highly significant ecological sites and many residents are upset with Hauraki District Council's decision.

Tauranga Labour candidate Rachel Jones.

SunLive reported this week New Talisman Gold has been granted permission to start test-mining in the gorge after the council issued resource consent, and the Department of Conservation an ‘Authority to Enter and Operate'.

Hauraki District Council and New Talisman hit back saying it is purely exploratory and activity is limited to a maximum of 20,000m3 of metallurgical samples per year, about 700 metres underground into Mount Karangahake.

This means the company can begin its bulk sampling and trial mining programme; mining about 600 tonnes of ore a month.

But the Labour trio say the government is running 'rough shod” over the wishes of the local community and iwi, once again putting profits over protection of the environment and the will of the people.

Korbinian says Labour's conservation policy would protect this land from mining along with a plan to extend the Schedule 4 status over conservation and stewardship land in the southern Coromandel and northern Kaimai Ranges.

'A Labour Government would shift the boundary between Schedule 4 and non-Schedule 4 land southwards, from the current line along the Kopu-Hikuai Road, to the southern boundary of the Te Aroha Ecological District, more or less the area where the Kaimai rail tunnel goes underneath the mountain.”

Rachel says questions must be asked whether the decision-making process was robust, and why so many stakeholders in the area were not notified about the plans.

'While an Authority to Enter and Operate may not amount to a full-scale mining consent, mining about 600 tonnes of ore a month sounds like a big operation – hardly just the collection of some ‘rock samples' as Energy Minister Simon Bridges has described it.”

Korbinian says he has received numerous emails from unhappy Karangahake and Mackaytown residents.

'I'd like to make it really clear that we in Labour are not against mining per se.

'Mineral extraction and the associated industries are important to our economy – I've said this many times over the last few months, and I'll say it again.

'But in this case, the fact that the area under consent is on DOC land that would be included in Labour's extended Schedule 4 area, presents a real problem.”

HDC planning and environmental services manager Peter Thom says the existing Talisman mine is located in HDC's Conservation (Indigenous Forest) Zone.

This zone recognises the importance of the district's indigenous forest cover and protects its high significance as a wildlife habitat as well as its scenic, scientific and recreational value.

'Our number one priority in assessing this application was that it would have no adverse effects that were more than minor on conservation values, recreation and amenity values (visual, noise, vibration), or historic and cultural sites in the area. Traffic safety was also a consideration.”

HDC chief executive Langley Cavers understands how people might be feeling about the project, as the Karangahake Gorge is a national attraction and one of the area's most valued assets.

'But there has been some misinformation around what the resource consent has actually been issued for – which is mineral bulk sampling and underground exploration work away from walking tracks with strictly enforced conditions.”

Langley says comparisons with historic mining activity in the area are not helpful or accurate.

Modern mining methods and regulations are vastly different to those used 100 years ago and if actual mining were ever to take place it would not be without following a resource consent process involving public consultation, he says.