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The GB Weekly - 24 May 2024

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Friday 24 May 2024

Siren's call for Sam’s Creek

Sam's Creek: An application made under the Fast-Track Approvals Bill seeks to mine gold at a site near the head of the creek. Photo: Jo Richards. JO RICHARDS

Golden Bay has the prospect of joining the country’s new gold rush. Last month, Australian company Siren Gold Limited submitted applications for mining at Sam’s Creek in the Cobb Valley, and at Reefton, to be considered as a “listed projects” under the coalition’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill. The legislation, in its current form, would empower three government ministers to give approval to such projects, including those previously denied consents by the Environment, High and Supreme Courts. In an announcement made to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on 29 April, Siren’s managing director and CEO, Victor Rajasooriar stated that the Sam’s Creek project “with its large endowment of gold has the potential to add significant revenue and employment opportunities for the country”. The “large endowment” referred to is the company’s mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 824koz of gold which, at current gold prices (NZ$3,975 per oz), would be worth around NZ$3 billion.

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But the precious metal won’t come out of the ground as nice, clean shiny nuggets; Siren estimates the gold-bearing rock contains around 2.8g per tonne or 2.8 parts per million. This, however, may be an optimistic figure; according to a paper presented at the PACRIM Conference in 2004, the gold content in the peralkaline granite porphyry dyke averages 1.8ppm. That discrepancy would make a significant difference to the financial viability of an operation which involves several costly stages. Although Siren have not provided details of their proposed process, common industry practice would suggest that, once mined, the ore will be transported to a processing site to be crushed into a fine powder before the gold is chemically extracted, most probably using cyanide. After the pure metal is recovered, the remaining 99.99998 per cent waste material will end up being stored in what is known as a slime dump or tailings dam. Given the steep terrain at the mine site, processing and waste management will need be carried out elsewhere, as indicated in a 1980s proposal

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THE GB WEEKLY, FRIDAY 24 MAY 2024

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JO RICHARDS

Golden Bay Community Board’s now six-weekly meeting was held at Tasman District Council Service Centre in Tākaka on Monday afternoon. Public forum The first contributor to public forum was Golden Bay Museum manager Karen Johnson, who made a request to the board for $500 funding towards the attachment of a mural to the external wall of the museum. She explained that the museum would be contributing $700. Andrew Yuill then addressed the meeting about the recent application, made under the coalition government's Fast-Track Approvals Bill, to mine gold at Sam’s Creek in the Cobb Valley. Speaking in some technical detail, Andrew summarised the potential environmental implications of the proposed operation. He explained that, while the scheme could yield 19 tonnes of gold, the waste by-products would include 75,000 tonnes of arsenic. “Enough to poison everyone in the world”. He said the estimated 11 million tonnes of waste would cover the area bounded by Commercial, Motupipi and Meihana Streets to a depth of 11 metres. ”That’s a huge amount of waste.” Andrew expressed concern over the contamination of water in the Tākaka Valley – especially the Arthur Marble Aquifer and the town’s drinking water supply. Asked about the relative legal status of the Fast-Track Approval legislation versus the Water Conservation Order, Andrew answered: “The Water Conservation Order is under the RMA, so will be bypassed.” Andy Clark reinforced Andrew’s position regarding the mine application. “The potential risk from the gold mine may present the biggest risk to Golden Bay I’ve seen in the past 40 years.” Highlighting the harm that could arise from the leaching of toxic waste, Andy mentioned contamination of potable water, poisoning of the aquifer, and listed numerous businesses in the Bay that would be affected, including farmers in the Tākaka Valley, mussel growers, Anatoki Salmon – and tourism. “The first thing you see after the ‘Welcome to Golden Bay’ is a toxic dam.” Andy concluded with a request to the board to hold a meeting to help sway the government’s decision on the application. “It will be a political decision but if the Golden Bay community is seen to be united, that is the best we can do.” Continued on page 3

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by a previous mining company which had identified an area of flat land near Upper Tākaka as a suitable location. The scale of the operation required to extract the entire MRE means something in the region of 11 million tonnes of rock would need to be mined, processed and dumped. And it is the potential environmental impact of the dumped waste that is the key issue for Andrew Yuill, co-applicant for the recentlygranted Water Conservation Order. He is particularly concerned about the ore’s high arsenic content – around 7,000ppm – which would leave almost 75,000 tonnes of the highly toxic substance in the dump after all the gold is recovered. The arsenic, along with other metals including lead and copper, could leach from the waste site into the environment for decades, if not centuries. This mobilisation of toxic materials results from natural oxidation of sulphides present in the finely-divided ore, producing a highly acidic environment which dissolves the elements in water. This long-term... Continued on page 2

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ISSN (PRINT) 2538-0923 ISSN (ONLINE) 2538-0931

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