Mining NZ Issue 3, 2014

Issue 3, 2014

All go at Rotowaro Stevenson Mining has plenty of work on at Solid Energy’s Rotowaro coal mine Issue 3, 2014  Mining NZ 1

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Contents »

Issue 3, 2014

Contents

07

7 New research programme A new research initiative by GNS Science is hoping to reduce exploration risks in the gold industry.

14 First coal for Bathurst The first coal has been mined at Bathurst Resources’ Escarpment project on the Denniston Plateau.

16 Mapping the mines John Taylor is relishing his current project to locate and catalogue the country’s mine plans.

14

23 New plant impresses New purpose-built plant installed at Baldwins Quarry has helped to increase production by an estimated 60%.

16 If you have an image you think would look great on the cover, contact us: Phone 03 983 5559 Email nick@waterfordpress.co.nz ISSN 2324-1187 Cover photo courtesy of Stevenson Mining.

PUBLISHER: James Lynch

MARKETING CONSULTANT: Paul Crowther

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EDITOR: Nick Gormack

OFFICE / ACCOUNTS: Helen Bourne, Jill Holland

Ph: 03 983 5559 Email: nickg@waterfordpress.co.nz

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JOURNALISTS: Jo Bailey, Hugh de Lacy,

Karen Phelps, Peter Owens

GENERAL MANAGER: Rex Lynch Email: rex@waterfordpress.co.nz

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Jesse Calder, Samantha Stuart, Michael Parker, Clare Coe, Anton Gray, Liki Udam Ph: 03 983 5560 Email: art@waterfordpress.co.nz

4 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

Ann-Marie Frentz Sarah McQuilkin

Phone: 03 983 5554 Email: annmarie@waterfordpress.co.nz

These conditions are prescribed for the sake of understanding between the Company and its clients. Advertising is charged for on the basis of space taken up using a standard tabloid page. Actual space may be reduced during the printing process but this will effect all advertisers equally so no credit will be given for any reduction in size due to processing. The Company reserves the right to alter, change or omit entirely any advertisement or article that it considers to be objectionable or which may contravene any law. In the event of a failure on the part of the Company to insert advertising as instructed the Company may publish the advertisement at the first available subsequent reasonable date unless the advertisement features date sensitive material. Every care shall be taken to publish the advertisement in accordance with the advertisers instructions as to page and position but the Company reserves the right for whatever reason to place advertising in a different position and in doing so shall incur no liability whatsoever. Advertisers must advise Mining NZ immediately of any error or omission in advertisements and shall work constructively to remedy the situation which in the first instance shall be a rerun of the corrected advertisement in the next available issue of Mining NZ. Where advertisement proofs have been faxed or mailed to the client 48 hours prior to the nominated printing cutoff time acquiesce shall be taken as confirmation and acceptance. Corrections made by telephone shall be accepted but the Company reserves the right to decide whether a further proof should be faxed or mailed to the client. Accounts for advertising are due for payment within seven days of publication of the newspaper. Accounts not paid within this time may incur a penalty of 3% per month until the

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Mining NZ welcomes contributions from freelance writers & journalists. All articles published at editors discretion. Mining NZ accepts no responsibilty for loss of photos or manuscripts.

News »

Pike River Mine decision another blow for families

MITO aims to step up training in oil sector Hugh de Lacy

Jo Bailey It was news the Pike River families didn’t want to hear, but in the end were expecting. Their 29 men are never coming home.

Solid Energy has abandoned plans to re-enter the Pike River Mine and attempt to recover the bodies of the men entombed in its depths, as it says the risk to life is too great.

The decision has “gutted” the families and “insulted” their team of international experts who said entering the drift was achievable, says spokesman, Bernie Monk.

“We were dealing with a company that never wanted to re-enter the mine in the first place. They strung us along for probably a year, putting things in place to stop us from going ahead.

“Solid Energy insulted our integrity and insulted our experts to whom they only gave lip service. In the end the CEO was sent over here to do one thing - to shut us down and get rid of us.”

Monk was appalled that Solid Energy started removing vital infrastructure from the mine site the day before the announcement was made at a meeting on November 6, between the families, the Solid Energy board, Prime Minister John Key, and other government ministers.

“They said it was a coincidence but it was obvious to the families what was about to happen.

It showed a complete lack of respect.”

He says the only positive to come from the families’ expectation that re-entry wouldn’t go ahead, was that it gave them time to mentally prepare before the meeting and consider the way forward.

They came up with a list to present to the Government which included assurances that the Pike River site would never be mined again.

The families also wanted the area returned to a conservation park with 24-hour access to them in perpetuity; a memorial to be established at the site; and the existing mine buildings to be used as a site for learning for health and safety and educational purposes.

The Government agreed to surrender the mining permit and talks will start soon with the families to work out the details of establishing a reserve and permanent memorial at the site.

Funding would come from the unspent $2 million from the re-entry attempt.

A civil case against those allegedly responsible for the disaster may also be funded by the Government.

Prime Minister John Key told families at the meeting he would seek an opinion from Crown Law, and said: “if we can do it, we will do it.”

Bernie Monk: “What more can we do?”

“We were dealing with a company that never wanted to re-enter the mine in the first place. They strung us along for probably a year, putting things in place to stop us from going ahead.”

Monk says this is welcome news for the families. “With no one charged for this disaster there has been no accountability or justice. It’s good to have this possibility back on the table. We have been down this track before and have the right people to represent us. Our lawyers and QCs have been up with the play from day one.”

With Solid Energy out of the picture, Monk is unsure if any other options remain for recovery of the bodies.

“Mines Rescue and WorkSafe would basically need to come up with a proposition and a group of people they agree to do the job. It’s the only way forward and if they’re not going to do it we may as well kiss any recovery goodbye.”

He says some of the families have already said “enough’s enough”, and that continuing the fight could put them through another two or three years’ of heartache.

Monk too, is battle weary.

“We’ve had the top experts in the world saying

the job can be done but we keep getting shot down.

“What more can we do? I’ve been to hell and back over the last four years and have to start looking after myself a wee bit too.”

He rues the fact the families’ UK-based experts have said New Zealand and Australia are the only countries in the world where a recovery attempt wouldn’t have been made by now.

“Every miner in New Zealand has to accept that if there is an explosion underground - no one is going to come and save you. Do we need a Mines Rescue at all if they’re not going to be able to go in and save people? That’s the precedent they’ve set.”

Monk says his current focus is to help develop a fitting memorial at the Pike River site for the 29 men who lost their lives.

“We are looking at options that will benefit not only the mining fraternity, but the local community and tourism as well. I think we can create something very special up there in remembrance of our guys. That’s my aim now.”

Government-backed extractives Industry training is gearing up cover the previously neglected oil and gas industry.

Though New Zealand has been producing petroleum for more than a century, and other extractives industries like quarrying and mining have established training structures, oil and gas has largely been left to plod along on its own.

That’s about to change, with the Mining Industry Training Organisation (Mito), which also handles training for the transport and logistics sectors as well as extractives, planning to release programmes in petrochemical, steam generation and workplace safety this year, with hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon drilling qualifications due out next year.

MITO chief executive Janet Lane said that the organisation has been working with the oil and gas industry over the past two years to review the qualifications available to the sector as part of the Government’s Targeted Review of Qualifications.

“These qualifications are currently in the process of being registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority,” Lane says.

“Once they have been registered, customised training programmes will be developed and the new qualifications will be released.”

The qualifications range from entry level National Certificate Levels Two and Three, right up to tertiary Levels Four and Five.

“Other education providers also offer training programmes leading to the award of these qualifications,” Lane says.

The New Zealand oil and gas industry has been growing steadily for the past decade and a half.

In the year 2000 it comprised just 12 enterprises and 420 employees, but that rose to 30 enterprises and 520 employees in 2009, and to 48 enterprises and 1070 employees last year, according to Statistics NZ. Although full coverage by an industry training organisation has come slowly to the New Zealand oil and gas industry, the demand for training has resulted in a range of providers stepping up to offer either their own courses or those created by the likes of the United Kingdom’s National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health. Bringing the oil and gas sector under an industry training organisation will make it easier for New Zealanders to get a foot in the door of a local primary industry widely regarded as having a huge upside.

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News »

Conference confronts the challenges Jo Bailey The mood at this year’s annual conference of the New Zealand branch of AusIMM was “not quite as pessimistic” as last year’s event, says branch chairman Les McCracken.

“There seems to be an acceptance of the new reality - that we are not likely to see much movement in the coal and gold industries for 18 months to two years. The prices are what they are and just have to be dealt with.”

He believes most companies are realistic about what lies ahead.

“Everybody is making adjustments from a company perspective. However it is pretty tough for some people out there. A few are out of work and there is not a lot of contract work around.

“The service providers are also affected. In Australia around 10 percent of AusIMM members are currently out of work and we think New Zealand is pretty consistent with that.”

Around 272 people, including speakers attended the conference at the Kingsgate Hotel in Hamilton in late August, which had the theme ‘Staying on top in challenging times’.

Numbers would normally sit at around 325 to 350 so were down on previous years.

Hot topics included how the local mining sector is responding to the technical, operational and cost challenges created by the market downturn, combined with mine resource depletion and a step change in legislative changes.

“The outlook is probably the most gloomy for Westport, where Bathurst is waiting for the coal price to recover before it starts to ramp up production at its Escarpment Mine, and Holcim’s cement plant is expected to shut in a couple of year’s time.”

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges told delegates it was a tough time for the minerals sector but said long term the government was “confident” the mining industry will continue to experience growth.

He said Government would continue to support the industry through a range of initiatives, including its Business Growth Agenda, streamlining of the permitting process, gathering of minerals data, and promoting the New Zealand minerals sector to the world stage to attract investment and more exploration. One of the Government’s proposed changes to the Resource Management Act was to improve the submissions and appeals processes for resource consents by ensuring submissions are targeted to the issues under consideration, he said.

Delegates also heard from new leaders in key positions, James Stevenson-Wallace general manager of New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals; Lou Sanson, director general of the Department of Conservation; and Gordon MacDonald, the new chief executive of WorkSafe.

Despite difficult times for the industry, a survey of delegates attending the conference has returned generally positive feedback, says McCracken.

The 2015 annual conference of the New Zealand branch of AusImm will be held in Dunedin.

Newmont goes off with a bang....

People came from as far afield as Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua and Tauranga causing traffic jams that have never been seen before in the town of Waihi on October 10, as Newmont Waihi Gold threw a free public fireworks event.

Newmont Waihi Gold spokesperson Kit Wilson says the fireworks display was to celebrate the fact the company has mined two million ounces of gold from Martha mine since 1987.

The event, which was attended by several thousand people, was

organised as part of Goldfest, which runs in October in and around Waihi. Newmont Waihi Gold’s event involved music and family activities such as a bouncy castle, climbing wall and merry-go-rounds set up on Waihi’s main street culminating in the fireworks display held over the Martha open pit mine and a laser sign on the north wall of the pit saying ‘Thanks Waihi’.

“We are part of the Waihi community and aware that the community hosts us,” says Wilson. “It’s our way of saying thanks.”

Coal prices slump to new low Hugh de Lacy Coking coal prices have reached a new contract price low of $US119/tonne ($NZ150) in the latest regular negotiations between Australian miners and Japanese steel mills.

That’s down a dollar from the previous quarter, and down a whopping 64% from the Queensland flood-assisted high of $330/t in the boom days of 2011.

The global spot price is riding round the $US113 mark ($NZ143), and there were fears that the Japanese contract price might be dragged that low by softness in the Australian dollar.

It didn’t happen though, probably because

the parties were aware that the 30 million tonne cut – equalling around 10 percent of the global seaborne trade - in global coking coal production since last year had yet to complete its assimilation by the market.

China, which along with Japan is the key global destination for seaborne coking coal trades, has slashed its imports by 39 percent in the past year in the face of a 52 million tonnes excess in global iron ore production this year, and a projected 163 million tonne excess in 2015.

Any recovery in price, not expected anyway until the second half of next year, is being delayed by Australian producers in particular swamping the already-saturated market with ever more product.

BHP, whose partnership with Mitsubishi makes it the world’s biggest coal exporter, produced a record 12.8mt in the three months to September, up 25% on the previous year, while the third biggest exporter, Anglo American, hiked its output by 21%.

The over-supply of coking coal is expected to double as a result, from 10mt this year to 20mt in 2015.

Iron ore producers are pursuing the same price-deflating strategy of ramping up production in the hope of efficiencies of scale delivering the profit that the market is presently unable to do.

As a result, coking coal prices will ease further, to $115/t, next year, according to international broking firm Jeffries, recovering only faintly to $117/t in 2016.

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News »

Research looking into gold deposits Karen Phelps A new $4 million initiative by GNS Science to conduct multi-disciplinary research on existing and prospective gold deposits could provide better predictive capability, reducing exploration risk and increasing opportunities for investment in New Zealand, says GNS Science minerals geologist Dr. Patricia Durance.

“Part of the focus of the study is to address the government’s business growth approach, and we’re hoping that some of the results of the study will generate increased employment and wealth from exports with respect to the minerals industry.”

The initiative arose out of the request for proposals for the 2014 Science Investment Round for funding through the Energy and Minerals Research Fund sent out by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment last year.

One of the targeted investment priorities was to gain greater benefit from New Zealand’s on-shore mineral resources through multi-disciplinary research.

Dr Durance says the study will initially focus on three gold-bearing mineral systems: the epithermal system at Waihi, the orogenic system at Macraes and the intrusion-related gold system at Sams Creek, near Nelson.

New Zealand’s two major gold producers – OceanaGold Corporation and Newmont Waihi Gold - are supporting the study.

“The questions we hope to answer are: what controls the location of gold deposits (Why do deposits form where they do?) Where might we find new gold deposits?

“When we have found a prospect, are there any features that we can pick up early in the exploration phase that would indicate the potential size? And how do we target and find the economic mieralisation within the prospect?

“The research aims to develop new exploration models that will advance knowledge of the geological, geophysical and geochemical processes that control mineralisation,” she says.

“The results could be quite significant for the industry if we are able to improve exploration targeting.”

While the four-year work programme includes GNS staff from Lower Hutt, Wairakei and Dunedin in collaboration with universities of Otago, Waikato and Auckland - the project has also budgeted for up to four PhD and four Masters students to do graduate work with some of the key researchers.

Durance says that GNS Science has also engaged with - and hopes to develop partnerships with - some of the smaller exploration and mining companies operating in New Zealand as the programme progresses.

Durance believes this will not only encourage new researchers to apply their skills to the exploration and mining industry but also make it easier for smaller mining companies to invest “High quality, pre-competitive data sets for companies to use to inform their exploration

On site at Globe-Progress Mine in Reefton: foreground, Mark Rattenbury; back, from left, Philip Rieger, mine geologist Craig McIntosh, Patricia Durance. targeting is a real benefit, especially for smaller companies who can’t afford to take big risks like larger companies can. I think it will help to level the playing field and encourage smaller companies to do more exploration in New Zealand.”

Durance says that the researchers will make use of existing government funded, regional-scale geophysical datasets that includes aeromagnetic and gravity survey data such as the $4m Antipodes Gold Ltd (former Glass Earth Gold) aeromagnetic survey, which covered large swathes of Otago.

New aeromagnetic surveys are not planned for the project. Field work and soil and rock sampling would be part of this programme and would include sampling from test drill cores and from within mine sites, and also the regional areas around existing mineralised structures.

“New Zealand doesn’t have an international profile for being resource rich with respect to minerals the way say Australia does. But we probably have a lot more than people realise so it’s a matter of building up that profile to provide incentive for overseas investment.”

Craig McIntosh and Dr Durance looking at some diamond drill core.

Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 7

News »

CRP staying upbeat on consent “We think we’ve

Hugh de Lacy A second staff report released by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) into Chatham Rock Phosphate’s (CRP’s) resource application may not restore the damage to the company’s share price caused by an earlier one, but at least it refrains from repeating a recommendation that the application be declined.

And that’s restored CRP’s confidence in the hearing process as it seeks a marine resource consent to mine phosphate nodules from the sea floor on the Chatham Rise, 450km off the Canterbury coast at a depth of 400m.

The EPA’s second staff report, which was released on October 22, may also give some hope to Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) which recently had its application turned down for resource consent to mine seabed ironsands off the coast of Taranaki.

TTR is planning an appeal.

CRP’s share price halved in late August when the EPA released a 175-page report by its staff saying they were “not currently able to recommend granting this marine consent as it stands.”

The rejection of the TTR application by a different group of EPA decision-makers came at about the same time as the publication of the first staff report on CPR, and which resulted in CPR’s overseas investors in particular, who have already sunk nearly $30m into the project, assuming it was now dead in the water.

The share price consequently crashed from 22c to 11c virtually overnight, slashing $15m from the value of the project, and it has yet to show any sign of recovery.

With the company currently going back to the shareholders for more money, the effect has been

presented a really strong case, and we don’t think anybody has come up with anything that isn’t manageable, so we’re feeling very comfortable.”

CRP is seeking a marine resource consent to mine phosphate nodules from the sea floor on the Chatham Rise, 450km off the Canterbury coast at a depth of 400 metres.

that it has had to sell double the number of shares to attract the same amount of investment.

The coincidence in timing of the TTR decision – which was unexpected - and the first CRP report prompted unsubstantiated claims from some quarters that EPA staff were sympathetic to, or had connections with, mining opponent Greenpeace.

However, in response to CRP’s expression of concern about the first report, the EPA’s decisionmaking committee on October 14 issued a minute acceding to the company’s request for the new

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8 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

report to “be restricted from offering an outright recommendation or conclusion on the outcome of the application”.

CRP had alternatively sought for the second report to be cancelled, but this was declined by the EPA. “We were really concerned the second report should not have recommendations because it wouldn’t take into account any of the evidence being presented to the [resource consent] hearing,” CRP director Linda Sanders said.

Instead the second report confines itself to

a spreadsheet summary and analysis of the information that was available up to the start of the hearing.

The 25-day EPA hearing, which is sitting in both the Chatham Islands and in Hamilton, is expected to end on November 20, and the EPA will announce its decision on or about December 18.

Sanders said that the TTR and CPR hearings had both proved something of a learning curve for the EPA, which established processes for hearing applications under the new Exclusive Economic Zone legislation in mid-2013 based on the Resource Management Act. “I think there’s been quite a lot of learning from the TTR process, and we’re hoping that we will benefit from that,” Sanders said.

“So far the process has worked very well and we think the [decision-making] committee has been fully engaged and fully understanding.

“We think we’ve presented a really strong case, and we don’t think anybody has come up with anything that isn’t manageable, so we’re feeling very comfortable about where we are,” she said.

Fire protection crucial for expensive mine equipment Protecting mining equipment from fire could save companies millions of dollars, says Steve Benseman from Fire Suppression Systems.

“If companies have a complete burn-out of one of their key pieces of equipment, it could be out of action for up to a year which would cost them an awful lot of money.”

Benseman says the lead time to replace highly specialised mining and construction equipment is currently around 50 weeks from when an order is placed to when it arrives in New Zealand.

“That’s why it is imperative companies protect their existing machinery as the combination of large amounts of fuel, hydraulic oil, extremely hot surfaces and electrical components create an operating environment with an inherently high fire risk.”

Benseman has 13 years experience in advising, installing and maintaining fire suppression systems at New Zealand mine sites.

He says it is important companies deal with a specialist such as Fire Suppression Systems to ensure their systems meet the testing and certified standards required of the industry.

“Some of our competitors dabble in fire suppression work outside their core business, but I believe we’re the only company in New Zealand to focus solely on mobile equipment fire suppression.”

Fire Suppression Systems offers a full range of systems for the mining, construction, drilling, forestry and mobile equipment industries.

Benseman is based in Auckland and employs three mobile technicians who operate from other parts of the country.

Between them they visit clients’ often remote sites in fully set-up vehicles that enable them to provide complete equipment install, maintenance and servicing on-site.

We pride ourselves on delivering reliable, proven products that give our customers peace of mind ....”

The expert team can also provide clients with advice on preventative measures and maintenance practices they can undertake to further reduce fire risk.

Benseman is the New Zealand agent for foam fire suppression system Sandvik NFP 1000. Around 18,000 Sandvik systems are now being used worldwide, he says.

The system is fully compliant with the new Australian standard AS5062.

A key feature is that it is completely selfcontained so even if there is no electricity or person to operate the system it will still activate in the event of an emergency.

Benseman says Fire Suppression Systems recently installed fire suppression systems to 115 machines for the Downer/Solid Energy Stockton Alliance on the West Coast, its biggest single install to date.

“We continue to look after every other major mine in the country.

“We pride ourselves on delivering reliable, proven products that give our customers peace of mind that their equipment and staff will be protected should a fire incident occur.”

News »

Delays frustrate titanium project Jo Bailey Westland Titanium director Jim Hickey is frustrated at the regulatory delays which have held up progress at the company’s Barrytown mineral sands project near Greymouth.

The company’s planned first half drill programme had to be delayed due to the late granting of access approvals onto Department of Conversation administered ground on the Barrytown Flats.

“We didn’t get the approvals until early June and had to complete drilling by 30 June as a requirement of our access approvals,” says Hickey.

“This gave us insufficient time to mobilise a rig and we were also at the mercy of the winter weather. It was too risky to try and complete a drill programme in such a limited period of time.”

With its completion date for this work “blown out”, Westland Titanium has had to apply to New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals for an extension of its appraisal period. However t the appraisals application that was lodged in May is yet to be processed.

“NZPM recently changed their approvals processes procedure, and the structure of dealing with these applications probably won’t be completed until December. It’s unlikely we’ll get an answer until next year.”

Westland Titanium’s parent company, private New Zealand explorer Pacific Mineral Resources (PMR), was due to settle the buy out of its Perthbased listed partner Alloy Resources’ interest in the Barrytown project on 30 November. However the delays in NZPM processing the request for an extension to the approvals process may impact on the settlement date.

“Putting projects on hold for an extended period due to bureaucracy has serious commercial ramifications. We’re still incurring overhead and other costs without being in a position to progress a lot of the activities that we have planned.”

Westland Titanium via its agreement with Alloy, holds exploration licenses for heavy mineral sands and gold on the Barrytown Flats, which is located 28 kilometres north of Greymouth.

A scoping study that Westland completed in early 2014 was based on mining six million tonnes of mineral sands per year to produce 580kta of Ilmenite, 18kpta of zircon and 8koz of gold.

Ilmenite is used as feedstock for the production of titanium dioxide which is used in a host of everyday products including paint, paper and plastics..

Titanium metal is also produced from ilmenite and has a range of uses - everything from golf clubs and aircraft fuselages, to medical joints and electronic applications.

Hickey says the Barrytown project has a potential 20 year-plus mine life, employing over 120 people directly and with an excepted multiplier

Westland Titanium holds exploration licenses for heavy mineral sands and gold on the Barrytown Flats.

“The international and local financial community shies away from uncertainty, and after the Bathurst Resources debacle and TTR decision, uncertainty is what they see.” of 2.4 indirect jobs for every direct job, would be a significant employer on the West Coast and a major contributor to the regional economy.

The resource estimate used in the scoping study was based on 60MT of historical resource estimates, however with further drilling and regional consolidation, Hickey believes that this has the potential to exceed 200mt.

Although the drilling programme has been delayed, Westland Titanium continues to do an “enormous amount of work” that is not directly associated with drilling and assaying, says Hickey.

The study included updated capital and operating costs which showed that the project would be commercially and technically robust.

This work includes completing updated geological models. However due to the delay in access for further “twinning” drilling of historical holes, the resource estimate is likely to be only classified as JORC-inferred until this is completed,

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which is now scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2015.

Hickey says the other major impediment to mineral resource project development in New Zealand was the international perception of New Zealand having a “long and frustrating” regulatory process, which was off-putting to potential investors. “Even though we have a very good story, like all companies in the junior resource sector we are funded by venture capitalists that consist of high net worth individuals and resource investment funds. They target investing in this market because they are looking for a significant return on their investment.

“The bottom line is that money is like water and follows the path of least resistance. The international and local financial community shies away from uncertainty, and after the Bathurst Resources debacle and TTR decision, uncertainty is what they see,” says Hickey.

“Many industry insiders are predicting a lack of serious short term funding into the New Zealand resources sector as a result of these two cases.”

He says even New Zealand investors are being put off by the regulatory process.

Westland Titanium was encouraged by local political and investment advisers to firstly explore the appetite of New Zealand investors for investment in Westland before looking at offshore options.

“We engaged a highly reputable NZ domiciled local broker and despite their enthusiasm for the projects potential, we couldn’t get any traction whatsoever for local funding.

“Most potential investors cited their uncertainty about the project receiving regulatory approvals and hence refused to support the raising which was extremely disappointing for multiple reasons.”

Based on this, Hickey says the company has had to consider other ways forward, and intends to make an announcement soon about the merger it is currently undertaking with an Australian listed company, which he believes will make it a more attractive proposition to investors.

Despite the challenges and delays he is excited about the future of the project. “This all comes to down to access, regulatory sign-off and getting all the approvals in place,” says Hickey.

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Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 9

Industry Comment »

Seizing the opportunity for change This Parliamentary term is surely the opportunity to get traction on the RMA reforms, writes Straterra chief executive Chris Baker.

Life was never meant to be easy but the obstacles confronting minerals exploration and mining in New Zealand are excessive. To pick a favourite: the resource management system is more likely to prevent business than enable it.

Forget the 95 percent figure for resource consent approvals – that’s extensions to the deck and building the garden shed up to the fence.

What I am talking about is the likes of the decline in June 2014 of the Trans-Tasman Resources application to mine ironsands in the South Taranaki Bight. This is a storm-tossed environment more than 22km from shore where few New Zealanders have ever been or will ever go.

From the level of public opposition to the project, the casual observer would think TTR was going to destroy the surfing and the fishing, the blue whales and the Maui’s dolphin, and who knows what else.

Of course, these things are important but we believe that a rational analysis of what the company intended to do, and what the impact on the environment would be, never really came clear in the process.

Straterra formed an expert group to review the TTR process, focusing on the oceans environmental effects legislation, the Environmental Protection Authority’s operation of the regime, and the approach taken by the applicant.

When completed, we will report to the Government on our findings. The aim is to improve the likelihood of a seabed mining proposal getting over the line in the future.

The TTR decision is by no means an isolated case. A motorway fly-over to avoid a cricket pitch in Wellington was turned down by a Board of Inquiry.

The Ruataniwha dam proposal in Hawke’s Bay was approved with prohibitive conditions.

It took more than three years for Bathurst Resources to gain consents for the Escarpment coal mine on the Denniston Plateau.

The Supreme Court has allowed King Salmon to farm fewer fish in the Marlborough Sounds.

To sound a positive note among the doom and gloom, the election outcome has to be considered an opportunity for change.

National and its confidence-and-supply agreement partners - the ACT Party, United Future, and the Maori Party - hold 64 seats in a 121seat Parliament. That is a clear mandate for the Government to press on with the Business Growth Agenda (BGA), to enable responsible economic development in New Zealand.

It took more than three years for Bathurst Resources to gain consents for the Escarpment coal mine on the Denniston Plateau.

That is a good thing because there are several RMA planning processes unfolding around the country that could mitigate against the BGA, and this should be of concern to Central Government.

In Auckland, the proposed Unitary Plan would impose a prohibitive standard on sulphur dioxide emissions from industrial point sources, where the effects are localised. That standard was adopted by the World Health Organisation to deal with diesel particulates in ambient air from motor vehicles in Hong Kong, a large and congested city – a very different context.

Of course, Auckland Council is entitled, and encouraged to manage air quality; however, we ask for a science-based and reasonable approach to the issue. At this stage the council has been intransigent, and the matter will go to a hearing.

It is a similar story for Southland where the regional council is proposing to prohibit the use of coal with a sulphur content exceeding 0.5 percent by weight in home heating.

We support the council’s objectives to reduce particulate emissions but there is no science in support of that threshold, and nor is any evidence

Improving NZ’s regulatory culture Material to an enabling regulatory system is the workplace culture of the regulator.

Mining is typically complex, and no two applications, work programmes or operations are the same. A problem-solving, collaborative approach to policy and regulation, guided by empathy with industry, clear principles, and with suitable checks and balances, are the things we look for in our regulators.

Basically, we want regulators who ask themselves: “How do I make this work for the applicant?” Rather than reaching for the relevant Act to see if a particular section can be used to put the applicant through another hurdle, there should be more communication between applicants and regulators.

Of course, we recognise that matters are not always straightforward for the regulator, and we acknowledged that when presenting on “untangling red tape” at the AusIMM NZ Branch conference in Hamilton in August.

The Department of Conservation, for example, is charged principally with safeguarding New Zealand’s native species and ecosystems, building and maintaining walking

10 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

tracks and backcountry huts, and looking after historic heritage on conservation land.

When “working with businesses”, DOC is often thinking of private sector efforts towards conservation - as it should. But to expect DOC to enable business as the regulator for concessions, access arrangements and wildlife permits, as well as an advocate on RMA processes, is a lot to ask of an agency that does not have economic development as legislative driver.

Section 17O of the Conservation Act 1987 says it all - “no activity shall be carried out unless authorised by a concession”. In other words, it is a privilege to be able to do business on conservation land, which is not an enabling construct, and is in conflict with the Government’s Business Growth Agenda.

Part of Straterra’s pitch to the Government in its Briefing to Incoming Ministers is to seek a review of the Conservation Act, and the alignment of access arrangement, concessions and resource consent processes for significant projects on conservation land. We look forward to a busy three years.

“That is a clear mandate for the Government to press on with the Business Growth Agenda, to enable responsible economic development in New Zealand.”

Chris Baker that sulphur content in coal is linked to air quality issues where they occur in Southland.

Straterra has submitted on both issues, seeking a principled and evidence-based approach to managing air quality.

That is also the approach we are taking to Tasman District Council’s process to designate outstanding landscapes in Golden Bay. Areas under minerals permits could be very difficult to develop if they become Outstanding Natural Landscape Features, depending on the accompanying Policies and Rules that would go into the District Plan.

Thames Coromandel District is further down the path of zoning restrictions.

Mining “shall avoid adverse effects” on outstanding landscapes and areas of significant vegetation; however, “where avoidance is impractical”, miners can remedy or compensate for their effects on the environment.

That does not make sense – if the first idea is applicable, then the second cannot be, and vice versa. Policies like these are more likely to polarise the mining debate than promote better understanding of modern mining. Hearings on the draft Plan are due to be held later this year.

To return to the King Salmon decision.

The Supreme Court decided in connection with the marine farming application that if a policy statement or a plan directs decision-makers to avoid adverse effects on, say, an outstanding landscape, then those effects must be avoided.

No marine farming can proceed in such places.

That may be a reasonable interpretation of the RMA regime but the implications for economic development are serious.

At issue is a general lack of enabling language on development in policy statements and plans around New Zealand, to bring the RMA regime back into balance. What we have instead is that exploration drilling is permitted in some parts of New Zealand but requires a resource consent.’

Outside of Schedule 4 land (where mining is

already prohibited), mining may still be effectively prohibited in some areas, because of zoning restrictions, while encouraged in others, e.g., the West Coast.

Hence the Government’s interest in, and rationale for greater national direction under the RMA. That could take several forms. Already there are “guidance notices” for some industries such as quarrying for council planners to use when administering the RMA. While non-statutory, that could be an approach for minerals.

The Government has proposed writing template provisions for plans and policy statements. That would entail statutory direction, and ensure consistency around the country, and looks an idea worth considering.

From time to time the idea of a National Policy Statement on minerals is raised. An NPS would explain the importance of minerals to the economy and society and the nature of the industry, and set objectives and policies for the sustainable management of exploration and mining. While it can take time and money to develop an NPS, they can be a powerful way of capturing the opinion of the “silent majority” who are broadly supportive of resource development in New Zealand.

Straterra has written to relevant members of the new Cabinet on national direction, among a number of issues of importance to the minerals sector.

That document is the starting point for Straterra’s engagement with Ministers and officials on enabling minerals exploration and mining in New Zealand. The Ministry for the Environment has already provided some encouragement. At the Resource Management Law Association conference in Dunedin in late September, deputy secretary James Palmer spoke on the sensible use of natural resources; “a glide path that New Zealanders can sign up to”; to resolve conflicts through planning rather than consenting; and “the role of central government is in providing direction.” That is what we like to hear, and we are happy to help.

Coal » Stevenson Mining / Rotowaro

New plant items purchased by Stevenson for its work at Rotowaro include a 400-tonne Liebherr R9400 excavator.

It’s full steam ahead at Rotowaro Karen Phelps Solid Energy has extended the Stevenson’s Rotowaro Mining Services contract to December 2018 in order to meet continuing coal sales to New Zealand Steel at Glenbrook and Genesis Energy NZ’s Huntly Power Station.

Mike Coleman, general manager for Stevenson Mining, says the contract extension and increased volumes are very important to Stevenson.

“To meet these volumes Stevenson has purchased additional major plant items,” he says.

Plant items include a new 400-tonne Liebherr R9400 excavator.

Coleman says that these machines have proven very productive and efficient in similar mines in Australia and Africa.

The company has also purchased four used Caterpillar 798C Dump Trucks, which were owned

by Golding Contractors out of Mackay, Queensland and have been working in a Queensland coal mine.

They are four years old with approximately 12,000 hours on the clock. Other new additions to plant include a new Caterpillar D10T bulldozer and one new Caterpillar 988K wheel loader as additions to the company’s existing fleet. Earlier in the year the company purchased a Liebherr R9250 excavator, Liebherr 984C excavator and a Caterpillar D10T bulldozer.

Coleman says that this significant investment in plant at Rotowaro signals Stevenson’s commitment to the New Zealand mining industry and falls in line with Stevenson’s strategic plan for mining.

Rotowaro mine in Huntly is owned by Solid Energy and is New Zealand’s second largest opencast coal mine. Coleman says that the company works closely with Solid Energy.

“Stevenson’s strong people values combined with its ongoing systems development and a culture

“Stevenson’s strong people values combined with its ongoing systems development and a culture of continuous improvement has created a positive work environment and a mine that everyone is proud of.” of continuous improvement has created a positive work environment and a mine that everyone is proud of,” he says.

At Rotowaro the company removes 9.2 Million BCM (bank cubic metres) of overburden per annum as well as one million tonnes of coal winning each year.

Other services include coal processing (screening and washing), mobile and fixed plant maintenance and progressive rehabilitation.

Stevenson has on site engineering workshops and an off-site workshop for major work.

Coleman says that the company’s engineering skills mean that it is able to keep all mobile plant operating to optimum levels.

The engineering team at Stevenson provides specialist mobile plant maintenance to the mining industry, supporting Solid Energy and other large mining operators.

• To page 12

GOUGHS PROUDLY SUPPORTS STEVENSON MINING Gough Cat Head Office 16 Branston Street, Hornby, Christchurch Phone: 03 983 2333 For enquiries please contact: mining.cat@goughcat.co.nz www.goughcat.co.nz Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 11

Coal » Rotowaro / Stevenson Mining

Full steam ahead for Stevenson at Rotowaro • From page 11

Stevenson Mining is firmly focused on building an effective and sustainable mining operation.

The Solid Energy Rotowaro mine in Huntly is New Zealand’s second largest opencast coal mine.

12 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

“Our people understand the demands of machinery in both open cast and underground mining in New Zealand and are passionate about completing a quality job every time,” says Coleman.

“We have a great team of people with a ‘let’s get the job done’ attitude. We don’t believe in paying lip service – we empower our staff to take responsibility and to be practical.”

Coleman says the company is firmly focused on building an effective and sustainable mining operation.

“We seek to apply a high standard of resource extraction, processing, health and safety and environment methodologies to all of our projects.

“Our track record speaks for itself – several decades of being reliable and responsible operators, completing projects on time and within budget,” says Coleman.

In achieving this objective the company focus is on several guiding principles in its daily business decision making including ensuring that products and services are developed in line with sustainability targets and encouraging the implementation and use of sustainable technologies and services across all the business functions.

The company maintains an environmental management system to meet all the relevant environmental legislation, regulations, sustainable development requirements and codes of practice.

In addition to its commitments at Rotowaro, Coleman says that Stevenson is getting closer to consenting a coal mine in Te Kuha near Westport.

“It is hoped that the mine will become operational by 2016.”

Anne Brewster, Stevenson Mining’s commercial and operations manager says Stevenson has been involved in mining and quarries since 1938 when it acquired the Drury Quarry. Today Stevenson Mining services range from mine planning, design and management to water management, overburden removal and haul road construction.

She says that the contract mining services offered by the company provide the mine owner with a number of key benefits including the capacity to quickly get their mine operational, reduced capital investment and certainty on budget.

“We offer the ability to optimise economies of scale without the investment in staff and capital.

This gives our clients time to focus on what they do best – marketing the resource,” explains Brewster.

Stevenson Group Limited is still a 100% familyowned holding company with four main business units: Construction Materials (quarries, concrete and laboratory), Mining and Engineering, Agriculture and Property.

While the businesses operate independently they are encouraged to support each other’s successes.

“There is some integration through the supply of products and services and we encourage staff to look for personal development opportunities across the Group,” says Brewster. “This approach has successfully created a commercial community that supports a ‘family’ culture, which is a big part of the secret of our success for over 100 years.

“We involve, educate and train staff to work in an environmentally responsible manner and ensure that our environmental policies are adhered to. We encourage our manufacturers, suppliers and contractors to develop and supply goods and services in line with our sustainability initiative.

“By focusing on sustainability, we aim to improve the value of our business.”

Brewster says becoming involved in the communities in which it operates is an important focus for Stevenson.

A key event that the company sponsors each year is the Stevenson Mining Source to Sea cycle race. Held on November 8 this year a range of cycling challenges is offered, both individual and team, and from 50km to 160km.

Stevenson Mining not only sponsors the event but a number of staff also enjoy taking part in the challenge with Stevenson fielding a team of around 30 participants in this years event.

“It is a very worthwhile community-oriented event and a great way to get staff and friends to bond outside work,” says Brewster.

“Stevenson is a values driven organisation. This means that we have a guiding set of values that define who we are and how we interact with people, both inside and outside of the organisation.”

“We work hard to make sure that these values are clearly visible in our behaviour, decisions and relationships.”

Coal » Bathurst Resources

First coal mined from Escarpment Jo Bailey The first coal has been mined at Bathurst Resources’ Escarpment project on the Denniston Plateau.

Chief operating officer Richard Tacon says around 500 tonnes has been recovered as part of construction works being undertaken at the site.

“Although only a small amount it is quite a significant milestone for the company.”

The coal has gone into the domestic market, along with the production from Bathurst’s three other New Zealand mines.

Tacon says construction works are progressing well at Escarpment, with the road upgraded, lay-down area established and initial water control systems in place.

This includes a pipeline which allows water to be moved from the site through water treatment systems in line with its consents.

“We are also careful that any areas we disturb going forward are well protected to prevent sediments from going off-site.”

Bathurst currently has four operators and a supervisor working at the mine, plus a manager overseeing its overall development.

“We expect the current type of works to continue for another two months.

“Then we’ll evaluate whether to bring more people up from Cascade, depending on how the market develops from here.”

The Department of Conservation granted Bathurst an Authority to Enter and Operate the mine in June, which allowed the company to start the preliminary works at the site.

DOC recently granted the final concession for Bathurst’s access road which will enable it to transport up to half a million tonnes of coal per annum from the mine.

“This is the last piece of the puzzle that will enable us to ramp up to full production whenever the coal price improves.”

Like most others in the industry, Tacon expects the “very flat” export coal market to remain so for some time barring an interruption of supply caused by a disaster, or major new demands from one of the big markets such as China or India.

“That’s the scenario we’re working on. In the meantime our focus is to make the domestic market pay our way, so when prices do rise, Escarpment will be developed and ready to go.”

He says there is strong demand for Bathurst’s domestic coal from its three other mines.

“There are no big tonnages out there. However we are picking up lots of smaller customers, particularly on the east coast.”

Bathurst says that the Cascade Mine is performing well, with production steady from its “nice big seam” of coal.

Bathurst Resources has made a start on its Escarpment project on the Denniston Plateau in Westland.

This coal is destined for mainly the industrial cement market and is also used as a blend or “energy trimmer” to raise the value of some of Bathurst Resource’s other coals for certain customers.

Tacon says that geotech issues at the company’s Takitimu mine over the last 12 months seem to have been resolved, with customers in mainly the dairy, hospital, and food processing and manufacturing sectors, pleased with the consistency of its coal.

Tcaon says there have only been limited operations at Canterbury Coal in the last quarter as Bathurst has worked to resolve some processing issues.

“We were transporting coal off site to a third party to be processed which wasn’t ideal.

“At the moment we are consenting a site in close proximity to the mine and away from urban areas, which we will have full control over.’

“In the meantime our focus is to make the domestic market pay our way, so when prices do rise, Escarpment will be developed and ready to go.”

“Canterbury Coal should come online again in the New Year.”

Bathurst expects to return to a cash positive position in the December quarter and for at least the first quarter of the 2015 financial year.

“As predicted we ended up slightly cash negative in the September quarter due mainly to the dairy receipts.

“However we’re seeing the dairy sector ramping up a lot quicker than last year so expect to be fully cash positive in the December quarter.”

Production from the September quarter was

41 percent ahead of the same period last year, says Tacon.

“A number of different factors impacted on production last year. However we’re well and truly on top of it now.”

The company’s conservatively positive mood has been helped by taking its first coal from Escarpment, he says.

“It’s a huge step forward. It might not be export coal - but it’s coal – and we’re getting ready to move into full production when the time is right.”

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Bathurst has recorded steady production at its Cascade Mine.

14 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

Coal » Bathurst Resources

Bathurst Resources says that construction works are progressing well at the Escarpment Mine, with the road upgraded, lay-down area established and initial water control systems in place.

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Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 15

Industry Focus »

Plan project digging up the past Mining consultant John Taylor is relishing his current project to locate and catalogue New Zealand’s mine plans, as Jo Bailey reports.

West Coast mining identity John Taylor has always had a passion for digging things up.

So it’s hardly surprising the mining engineer and mining geology consultant is relishing his current project to locate and catalogue several collections of mine plans under contract to New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals.

“It’s interesting work as the plans have been scattered to the wind over the years. Now the move is afoot to track them down and catalogue them in detail, prioritising the latest plan versions we can find for future scanning,” he says.

The work is an extension of a 20-plus year interest, during which time Taylor has spent countless hours trawling through the archives of New Zealand to find as many of the old mining reports and plans as he could.

“This archival research can help us better understand some of these old abandoned mines, telling us what came out and what might still be there.”

The information is helpful for future explorers and mining historians, but also for WorkSafe New Zealand, in the event of mining accidents or “holes appearing in back gardens in remote areas”.

“WorkSafe are keen to put together an online system of the most recent copies of mine plans covering New Zealand mines so the most up-todate information is available if there is an incident.”

Mapping mines is nothing new to Taylor, who until June 2013 was Subsurface Investigations Manager for Solid Energy at Stockton Mine, managing subsurface mapping and monitoring for evaluation and assessment of the remaining coal resource and underground mine hazards.

He used the latest down-hole laser scanning and surface-based geophysical imaging to do this work.

Map Man: John Taylor busy tracking down New Zealand’s mine plans.

However his current project is far more low-tech and involves finding mine plans rather than creating them.

He had already spent considerable time as part of a team putting together the “huge” archive collection held at Solid Energy’s Westport branch before taking on his contract with New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals.

Mining maps reveal a fascinating glimpse of New Zealand’s history.

Photos: Erin Kavanagh-Hall and the Wairarapa Midweek

“Back in the late 1940’s when the Labour government nationalised all New Zealand coal mines as a strategic resource, the state-owned New Zealand State Coal Mines inherited all the mine plans from those mines. Many of these remain in Solid Energy’s archive and in their custodianship.”

New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals also has a large collection of mine plans, held in the National Core Library at Featherston, Wairarapa, which came originally from the former Mines Department.

“Their idea was to merge NZP&M’s plan catalogue with that of Solid Energy’s collection.”

Taylor continues to track down the remainder of New Zealand’s mine plans, many of which used to be held by a variety of departments and organisations, including the Mines Inspectorate and Mines Department, and are still held in many local museums.

“When they closed down a lot of the mine plans became scattered. They really could be anywhere.”

Taylor says a couple of the more interesting finds include plans from the historic Blackball Coal Mine; and a plan of the Cobb Valley area from the 1930’s or 1940’s hand-drawn on plain linen by a local prospector.

“The Blackball community took over the old mine manager’s house and were moving a table when the top came off to reveal a huge mine plan.

That’s where he had kept it stored and protected.”

The hand-drawn plan was made by a prospector who lived in a small hut in the Cobb Valley for many years.

“The prospector drew his prospecting map of the Takaka and Collingwood areas on an old flour sack and it is still crystal clear to this day.”

Taylor says a lot of the old mine master plans were drawn on tracing linen, which is linen covered by a petroleum-based product, and which was previously widely used for plan drafting.

“I still remember the days when you could buy tracing linen. It has a beautiful smell. But you could not allow any water to come in contact with the plan or you would end up with plain linen and no plan.”

Taylor is doing a lot of his work at New Zealand Petroleum & Mineral’s Core Library, but had to move to the local Featherston Community Centre during winter when earthquake strengthening works were being carried out.

“All sorts of people came in - curious about what a man bent over a table with hundreds of plans was doing.”

A local Wairarapa paper did a story, with Taylor dubbed, ‘The ‘Map Man’.

As well as helping to preserve vital mine history for future generations, Taylor is also helping to preserve the West Coast environment, having just been appointed to the West Coast Conservation Board by Environment Minister Nick Smith.

“I’m probably one of a few mining-related people to sit on the Conservation Board to help set the Department of Conservation’s strategy policy for the West Coast Conversation Estate. It is a real privilege.”

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Industry Focus »

Celebrating the legacy of Totara Flat Jo Bailey Gold fever returned to the West Coast settlement of Ross on November 1, when around 180 people took part in activities celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 1864 Totara goldrush.

Attendees were given ‘mining rights’ for the day which enabled them to take part in various gold panning and claim staking activities, while following a gold trail around the Ross Walkway.

Co-organiser John Dunbier says everyone who tried panning went away with a few flakes of Ross Gold.

“To see the smiles on the kids’ faces when they found the flakes in their pan was the best reward.

I think more than a few people contracted a mild case of gold fever on the day.”

Dunbier came up with the idea for the event around 18 months ago.

“I have a huge amount of admiration and respect for the achievements of the old prospectors and diggers that came to this wild place 150 years ago and really just wanted to raise an awareness of what they did.”

The first discovery of gold at the Totara River was in late 1864, but the initial gold rush petered out fairly quickly due to the challenge of servicing the early goldfield, combined with almost continuous rain on the ranges.

Work continued at a low level with about 200 miners on the Totara River by the end of December 1864.

Anniversary attendees were given ‘mining rights’ for the day which enabled them to take part in various gold panning and claim staking activities.

New rushes elsewhere in early 1865 saw most of those diggers leave, but by April the Otago Daily Times was anticipating new rushes back in the Totara region. This optimism was soon realised with discoveries at Redmans Creek, Donoghues Gully and Pokorua Creek which would establish the Totara district as one of the great alluvial goldfields of New Zealand.

When Hokitika was cemented as a viable port around the same time it enabled areas such as Totara and later, Ross, to become well-serviced, flourishing mining centres.

Dunbier and a team of volunteers put together a packed programme for the 150th celebration including activities and displays.

The ‘Goldrush Centre’ at the Ross Domain had a

warden’s tent, panning competition, the ‘goldfield’ and community stalls.

The ‘Mining Heritage’ area at the Information Centre had static displays including a waterwheel and sluicing claim.

There was also a community barbecue, with a “sensational” fireworks finale to end the day’s activities, sponsored by Birchfields Ross Mining.

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Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 17

Gold » OceanaGold

Blackwater viable, but no commitment yet OceanaGold has successfully intersected the Birthday Reef with four deep diamond holes (and their daughters) collared from surface in two campaigns in 1996; and from 2010 to 2013.

The results are consistent with the range of historically mined widths and grades and indicate that the Birthday Reef continues for at least 680m vertically below the last worked level of the Blackwater Mine.

Process test work suggests that gold recovery of 96% is achievable with the deposit amenable to conventional underground mining methods.

The project has a 10-year mine life after two and a half years of pre-production to establish the access decline and initial underground exploration drilling platform.

OceanaGold has recently received the required consents to construct the exploration decline and to undertake exploration drilling and underground mining.

Further resource consents will be required to allow for ore processing and tailings codisposal facilities.

At the end of October the company released its third quarter results for 2014 which reported a 61 percent drop in third quarter profit to US$16.9million from US$43.7m in the same period last year. Third-quarter revenue was US$122.8 million.

OceanaGold has been scaling back its New Zealand production at its Macraes and Reefton gold mines as it focuses on copper and gold production at its Didipio mine in the Philippines.

The company affirmed it was on track to meet its full-year production and cost guidance, with Didipio year-to-date production of 71,473 ounces of gold and 18,263 tonnes of copper putting the mine on track to exceed full year guidance.

In a statement, Mick Wilkes, managing director and CEO said Didipio is “well on track” to achieve an annualised throughput rate of 3.5 million tonnes by the end of the year.

Jo Bailey OceanaGold has released a preliminary economic assessment of the Blackwater mine near Reefton, which demonstrates the project is technically and economically viable, subject to improved understanding of the geological resource, geotechnical and hydrogeological conditions.

The report recommends the project advances to the construction of an exploration decline from which an underground drilling platform can be established for further exploration of the resource.

It is not technically possible to achieve the level of confidence in the Mineral Resource from the surface alone due to the depth and geometry of the Birthday Reef which hosts the resource, along with surface land ownership constraints.

A diamond drilling campaign would be required to support a Mineral Resource update and the conversion of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves through to full feasibility study.

The report said extensive historical information from the mine combined with OceanaGold’s recent deep drill programme provides sufficient confidence to justify investment in the exploration decline.

However an OceanaGold spokesperson said: “no decision has been made to proceed with the next phase, and there is no timeline in place for such a decision”.

Should the company choose to proceed the $US40 million required to develop the exploration decline could be funded from its operational cashflow, said the report.

Blackwater Mine is located 37km south of Reefton and 60km northeast of Greymouth.

The Reef was discovered in 1905, and was mined for 45 years, during which time it was known as one of the richest hard rock mines in New Zealand.

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18 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

OceanaGold has successfully intersected the Birthday Reef with four deep diamond holes collared from surface in two campaigns in 1996, and from 2010 to 2013.

In New Zealand, year-to-date 2014 production was 143,278 ounces of gold including 41,145 ounces of gold in the third quarter.

Fourth quarter production at Macraes is expected to be similar to the second and third quarters while production at Reefton is expected to increase from the third quarter

• • • • •

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Mick Wilkes said the company expected a strong finish to the year and planned to further strengthen its balance sheet with increased cash and repayment of an additional $30 million of debt.

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Gold » Newmont Waihi Gold

Trio project nearing its final days Karen Phelps Newmont Waihi Gold has confirmed that work at its Trio mine is due to finish in mid-November.

Company spokesperson Kit Wilson says the company is mining the top levels now.

The Trio project is situated under Union Hill and comprises the Union, Trio and Amaranth veins. Construction of two development drives, 590 metres and 790m in length, began in 2010. The company’s Martha Mine is also scheduled for closure in 2016.

The Martha project was the first major hard rock mining operation to be commissioned following the resurgence of the gold mining industry in New Zealand in the late 1970’s.

Because of its location Wilson says that Waihi mining operations have received a high level of public scrutiny, which is reflected by the stringent conditions set for the company’s projects.

Wilson says the two closures will be significant for the local region: “The workforce from Trio will move over to Correnso [underground mine]. But when Martha closes there will no longer be the same workforce required.

“But it will be a gradual wind down as there will be several years of rehabilitation following the closure to ensure the land is returned to an environmentally acceptable state and to meet consent conditions,” he says.

Newmont Waihi Gold has also started work on the spiral decline and the three drives in its Correnso mine, drilling 314m below the surface under residential housing. Mining is starting at the bottom of the ore body and working upwards.

At Correnso this means starting at around 300m deep and finishing no closer than 130m below the surface.

The Correnso exploration development drive, which comes off the Trio mine, was completed at the end of April this year.

The Correnso exploration development drive, which comes off the Trio mine and heads north underneath residential properties in Waihi East,

“The workforce from Trio will move over to Correnso [underground mine]. But when Martha closes there will no longer be the same workforce required.”

The Martha Mine is scheduled for closure in 2016.

was completed at the end of April this year. It was constructed to allow Newmont Waihi Gold to drill into the Correnso ore body to gain a better understanding of the extent and grade of the ore body and involved Newmont Waihi Gold constructing a tunnel over 200 metres beneath the surface and drilling core samples.

It’s the first time that such a project has been undertaken in New Zealand by the gold mining industry directly under residential properties.

Wilson says the company is working with property owners to fulfil its consent conditions.

“If we are mining directly underneath a house then three months beforehand we have to make an offer to purchase the house.

“The owner can then sell us the house and leave, sell it and rent it back off us or take a 5% ex gratia payment based on the value of the property.

“We have had homeowners take advantage of all these options.”

Wilson says that the results gained from the drilling have given Newmont’s Investment Council based in Denver the confidence to provide funding of US$32m.

He says that the first phase of Correnso will be completed by mid 2017 by which time it will have produced 300,000 ounces of gold.

This phase involves the mining of the known reserve. Wilson says that while this is happening Newmont Waihi Gold will continue with underground exploration drilling.

“This will mean that we will continue to be a significant employer in the region after our Martha open pit closes in early 2016.

“We are also continuing with near mine exploration with the aim of extending the life of our operations.”

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Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 19

Gold » Industry News

Gold price set to soften further Hugh de Lacy The gold price continues to plod along just north of the $US1200/ounce ($NZ1520) mark – it was at $1230 ($NZ1557) at the end of last month – and while investors grope for a hint of an upside, it’s more likely that further softness could follow.

That’s especially the case in the short term, despite gold dodging a bullet in the form of the European Central Bank’s release of the results of its stress-testing of Europe’s 130 biggest trading banks.

The absence especially of Spanish banks from the list of 25 that didn’t come up to scratch was interpreted as a positive by the wider market, and that put a dampener on the demand for gold as a safe haven.

Still, the price hung around in the face of some commentators looking for just such a glitch to throw it into freefall again, with the next stopping point being around the $900 mark.

A more likely downwards trigger would be a sudden rise in United States interest rates, but with US GDP in steady growth mode, there’s not much chance of that either.

Most sentiment has gold continuing to bounce along in its present range but it wouldn’t be gold if there weren’t optimists looking for the next big surge, some spark to launch it back towards the $US1900/oz ($NZ2400) that at peaked at in September 2011.

Such optimism gets some comfort from increased eastern consumer demand, with

Sam’s Creek stays on hold Karen Phelps MOD Resources is awaiting market conditions to change before progressing further on its Sam’s Creek project, says MOD Resources managing director Julian Hanna.

“The Stage 3 drilling project is ready to start testing for an extension to the gold resource we have already discovered but we are waiting for market sentiment to improve.

“The project is still a good one but with gold prices north of approximately US$1200 per ounce it is difficult to raise market interest at the moment.”

Sam’s Creek is New Zealand’s biggest undeveloped gold resource. The resource is centred on the Main Zone deposit which comprises significant widths (up to 35m true width) of porphyry hosted gold mineralisation.

The Main Zone is the only part of the Sam’s Creek porphyry dyke with any systematic drilling

to date and the deposit remains completely open along strike and at depth.

The resource infill drilling program during 2013 intersected numerous high-grade gold zones including: 19.6m@ 6g/t, 16.2m @ 5.2g/t, 31.1m @ 3.6g/t and 63m @ 2.4g/t. All intersections were reported as down hole widths as detailed in the ASX Announcement on 31 July 2013.

Hanna says that future drilling is proposed to focus on north-east trending fold axes which host the high grade gold mineralisation within the substantial Main Zone resource.

“Similar and parallel fold axes have been interpreted elsewhere in the porphyry west of the resource and this potential remains effectively untested. The proposed drilling programs to test potential for extensions to the current resource are expected to commence when there is a sustained upturn in the gold price or in the wider market. MOD still considers Sam’s Creek has excellent potential for a significant upgrade to the current resource.”

Antipodes talking with investors The gold price continues to be soft.

China’s net gold imports jumping to 68 tonnes in September this year from just 27 tonnes in August.

The Diwali Festival has also reinforced the already strong consumer demand existing in India with about a 40 percent year-on-year surge on Dhanteras Day in mid-October, the festival day which is thought to be the most auspicious for buying gold.

There is some evidence too of speculators starting to take more aggressive stands on the gold futures markets.

Re-named and re-structured Antipodes Gold is still on the hunt for investors to back its promising Wharekirauponga (WKP) joint mining venture with Newmont Waihi 10km north of the latter’s Martha Pit in the Hauraki field.

“We’ve been in a bit of a holding position while we’ve been hunting for capital, and it hasn’t been the best time to do it, what with the gold price and the general economic sentiment,” Antipodes chief executive Tom Rabone told Mining NZ. Antipodes holds 35% of the joint venture with Newmont which was renegotiated earlier this year to give Antipodes the right to earn-in to 51% through sole-funding of technical programmes.

Newmont also has the right to claw back its reduced stake at a cost multiple three times that of Antipodes’ expenditure.

WKP has an inferred resources of 1.3 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 6.2g/t, for an estimated total of 160,000oz of gold.

Rabone said talks were in progress with several potential investors, but he was not yet in a position to reveal them.

No such problems have attended the start-up in March this year of privately owned Waikaia Gold Ltd’s operation in the Waikaia River floodplain in northern Southland.

Backed by $12m in investment, the company is aiming to produce 15,000 to 20,000oz of gold a year for the first four years of the operation’s eight-years lifespan. Returns will diminish after that.

Around 2.2m cubic metres of overburden is being removed annually ahead of the dredge whose pit is moving at the rate of 80m a month.

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20 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

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Gold » Industry News

Goodbye to Earnscleugh Jo Bailey Low gold prices and the high New Zealand dollar have led to the early closure of the privately-owned Earnscleugh gold project, one of the country’s largest alluvial gold mining operations.

Mintago Investments (part of Christchurchbased L&M Group) made the announcement in August and stopped extracting gold from the Central Otago site in September.

The mine had an estimated gold resource of 110,000oz and was originally scheduled to finish in 2016 at the end of a seven-year mine plan.

Shirley Herridge, Mintago’s chief financial officer said the decision to close the mine wasn’t made lightly and it was “extremely disappointing” for the company.

“We went to a lot of trouble to continuously improve the operation and create efficiencies.

“However every initiative we made seemed to be negated by a fall in the gold price or jump in the dollar which challenged the viability of the mine.”

From record highs of $US1921 in 2011, the gold price remains slumped at little more than $US1200.

Since the Earnscleugh operation started in 2009 the New Zealand-US dollar exchange rate has increased from 0.65 to 0.85, shaving around 25 percent off the New Zealand dollar gold price.

Thirteen of the mine’s 35 staff who had worked at the site on a 24 hour roster have been kept on in the short term to carry out mine closure and rehabilitation works.

“From what I understand all staff who have been let go have moved onto new jobs, which we are delighted about,” says Ms Herridge.

The rehabilitation work will restore the mine site to grassland for future agricultural use. This is expected to take around eight months and will get underway once resource consent issues have been dealt with.

First gold for New Talisman Hugh de Lacy

The Earnscleugh gold project was one of the country’s largest alluvial gold mining operations.

“We have been continuously rehabilitating the site since 2012, creating quality pasture from previously unproductive land,” says Herridge.

“These works will mirror rehabilitation programmes we have carried out at earlier projects at Glenore, Nokomai, Arahura, Rimu and others.”

The project has had other challenges including the disastrous sinking of the dredge in January 2013 after it sprung a leak.

The dredge was out of action for three months for repairs and reconditioning work which included an energy conversion to mains electricity.

“The sinking was a challenge during the mining process but had no bearing on the decision to close the mine.

“At the time all staff were kept on and we

were able to take the opportunity to improve the efficiency of the operation.”

The mine closure will impact on the local economy, with an estimated $14-15 million spent in the area annually.

Ms Herridge says L&M Group has “no concrete plans” to sell the 420 hectares of land it owns around the Earnscleugh site.

It was unlikely the project would resume when the gold price strengthened given the prohibitive costs to restart the mine, she says.

“You can never-say-never although I can’t see it happening.

“Unfortunately market conditions have dictated the early closure of the mine and we’re very sad we’ve had to do it.”

Start-up miner New Talisman Gold is banking around $100,000 from the processing of 50 tonnes of ore left over at the historic Hauraki mine by a previous owner, and is expecting even better returns from the seam it will soon be mining.

The listed company’s chief executive, Matt Hill, told Mining NZ 64.5 ounces of gold and nearly 230 ounces of silver were recovered from the stockpile left at the mine by Southern Gold. It was the first gold to come out of the mine for 30 years.

“The average grades were 1.5 ounces of gold and about three-and-a-half times that much of silver,” Hill said.

“We’re pretty pleased, and that’s quite representative of the ore found in the hole we drilled in what’s known as the Dubbo vein. That vein has traditionally come out with very high grades.”

He expected to exceed those of the old stockpile, about half of which has been processed at Newmont Waihi’s Martha Pit plant nearby.

“It’s been very difficult for us to get the exact numbers of what [previous owner] Southern Gold sent off [for processing] – they were getting four to five ounces [per tonne of ore] in some areas – but what we can see is that the grades found in Dubbo are significantly higher than our intersections of it,” Hill said.

Forecasting a start of production sometime in the second quarter of 2015, Hill said the company will be allowed to enter the mine from December 13, assuming its risk assessment and mitigation plan was acceptable under the Health and Safety Act. Once access to the mine had been gained, it would take three to four months to install air, water and ventilation infrastructure, and to refurbish the existing access tunnels.

Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 21

Environment » Baldwin’s Quarry

Baldwin’s Quarry wins for wetlands Karen Phelps The Mining and Quarrying industry often gets typecast as creating environmental problems.

But 2014 Institute of Quarrying New Zealand and Aggregate and Quarry Association of New Zealand awards winner Baldwin’s Quarry has proved that this can be far from the case.

Baldwin’s Quarry took out the top award in the Mimico Environmental Excellence Awards for its voluntary initiative to improve the quality of water discharged from the quarry prior to its release into the Whangamarino Heritage Wetland.

Quarry operations manager Kerry Reilly says that Baldwin’s Quarry is committed to protecting the environment and minimising effects on the public and that it had been identified that improvements could be made to the quality of water discharged from the quarry prior to its release into the Whangamarino Heritage Wetland – one of only six Ramsar (internationally recognised) wetlands in New Zealand.

The wetland design was innovative - a combined effort between Reilly, quarry neighbour farmer Peter Buckley and a University of Waikato wetland professional.

“Instead of digging into the low-lying terrain we built the wetland by creating a connected series of ponds on top of the landscape thus minimising disturbance,” explains Reilly.

“The design incorporates roadways on top of containment bunds, the creation of a central hill to help increase the length of working wetland and a viewing area, and extensive raised areas for revegetation. Full provision for public access is an important feature.”

Reilly conceived the design and approached Buckley with the idea outside any specific legislative directive from councils. Working with his neighbour, he sought support from local Iwi, Department of Conservation, Fish and Game and local district and regional councils.

Buckley also donated several hectares of pasture and wetland land on his property for the project.

To date over 15,000 indigenous trees and shrubs have been planted with funding assistance ($35,000) from Waikato Ecological Enhancement Trust.

As a result Reilly says that wild life habitat is enhanced and there is a range of species already in residence making the area an ecological asset for the quarry, Buckley, local iwi and the wider community.

The innovative wetland at Baldwin’s Quarry was a combined effort between Kerry Reilly, neighbouring farmer Peter Buckley and the University of Waikato.

Buckley says that he is pleased that the wetlands innovative design is attracting wider attention from other land users and public agencies.

“Dairy NZ used it to demonstrate to a large contingent of local farm managers, overseas visitors and district and regional council representatives, the value of such systems and working in collaboration with other businesses and community.”

Reilly says Baldwin’s Quarry is dedicated to integrating environmental issues in financial planning and decision making as well as using best practical options to prevent pollution of the surroudning waterways.

It promotes the efficient use of resources consulting with communities, interest groups and Iwi and developing and implementing environmental management plans to monitor discharges to the environment, provide spill prevention and control procedures and rehabilitate and landscape sites.

Baldwin’s project illustrates the ‘power of partnerships’ • Flora & Fauna • Erosion Solutions • Waste Management • Invasive Species Control • Heights & Ropes • Environmental Monitoring • Mobile Labour Hire • Asbestos

22 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

The winning work at Baldwin’s Quarry was a great example of the power of partnerships to reduce risk, according to the judge of the Mimico Environmental Excellence Awards.

Baldwin’s Quarry won for its voluntary initiative to improve the quality of water discharged from the quarry prior to its release into the Whangamarino Heritage Wetland.

Awards judge, Dr Morgan Williams says the project showed the “power of partnerships to reduce risks’.

“This is what Kerry Reilly did at Baldwin’s Quarry working with his dairy farmer neighbour, Peter Buckley, to build an artificial wetland.

“This was a major investment for both of them but essential to ensure the

large neighbouring, globally recognised Whangamarino wetland, did not receive quarry or farm runoff.

“This project also involved a university ecologist in its design and wide consultation with local iwi, local councils, environmental groups and the Department of Conservation,” says Williams.

“The end result is a ‘state of the art’ artificial wetland and wild life habitat that will be an asset to the quarry, farm and wider community (through the provision of public access and easy walkways) for at least the next 100 years!

“It is also an example to the wider farming community of how farm runoff can be managed and farmer visits are already underway.

Quarrying » Baldwin’s Quarry

New plant brings big improvements Karen Phelps New purpose-built plant recently installed at Baldwin’s Quarry has helped to increase production by an estimated 60% while reducing costs, says Baldwin’s Aggregates Limited operations manager Kerry Reilly.

“We’ve had a major reduction in costs, staff time has been freed up and our output has increased,” says Reilly. “We’ve really changed the way in which we’re carrying out the whole process of aggregate.”

The plant is part of a drive by the company to increase efficiencies at the Higgins Group owned quarry, which supplies high PSV aggregates to the road construction industry. The new plant design was a joint effort between Higgins and Brightwater Engineering Limited, which was engaged to manufacture and install the plant.

Jason Hearn, sales engineer for Brightwater Engineering, says that the brief was to utilise existing equipment to help reduce costs. The design used the existing mobile crushing plant which was fixed into position and configured.

“The mobile crushing equipment was on tracks and we decided to turn the operation into a modular set up using existing crushers then adding extra conveyors, larger more efficient screening plant and a feed bin,” explains Reilly.

The linch pin of the new design is the feed bin.

Thirty-tonne dump trucks can now unload directly into the bin rather than an excavator or loader physically loading the material into the crushing system. The elevated feed bin can continuously feed material into the plant at a set rate.

A Trio 20 x 5 screen has assisted volume of through-put. Other aspects of the plant include a larger Avalanche washing plant.

Diesel prime movers and power packs have been removed from the mobile crushers and replaced with versions that operate on electricity eliminating the need for fuel.

Reilly says this has reduced energy and maintenance costs as well as improving the company’s carbon footprint. Noise has reduced by 80% with the quiet electrically run equipment.

The linch pin of the new plant design is the elevated feed bin, into which 30-tonne dump trucks can now unload directly.

“Noise is something that can be irritating. It has an effect on hearing and also makes it harder to communicate so staff have experienced a whole range of improvements to the working environment from this change alone,” says Reilly.

“People can focus a lot better and enjoy the work environment more,” he says.

“Of course we also now no longer have to shut the plant down to service these motors as we did with diesel run models.”

The installation of the new plant presented challenges due to the demanding topography of the quarry site.

“The earthworks and foundation were quite complex and we had to keep the plant operational

throughout. It was certainly a challenging exercise but Brightwater Engineering were very good and focused on our requirements and got the job done,” says Reilly.

Brightwater completed a high level concept sketch and used three dimensional modelling to capture and communicate the most efficient solutions to the client, particularly important in this project due to the challenging topography of the site, explains Hearn.

“It was a good example of a project where everyone collaborated effectively working as a team to come up with the best solution and result,” says Hearn.

Although it’s still early days (the new plant was

Ph:

started up in January 2014 but the diesel motors have only all just been replaced) Reilly says the savings will be significant.

He says that the new plant is part of Higgins progressive improvement programme initiated after the company purchased the business in 2011. It’s also been necessary to meet increased demand for aggregate from the market.

“As we come out of the world recession demand has picked up. We’ve got some major projects that are happening near to the quarry including the Rangiriri deviation, which has also lifted demand.

We also supply Higgins asphalt plant in Hamilton and customers such as the Fonterra coal mine and the Solid Energy coal mine at Maramarua.”

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Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 23

Quarrying » Winstones Hunua

Birth of a new quarry at Hunua Quarrying is all about the long-game and Winstone’s has been putting in the hard yards to get a new quarry ready for when its Hunua Quarry closes down.

For 89 years Hunua Quarry has been supplying high quality aggregate to the Auckland region for roading and infrastructure, but it’s nearing the end of its operational life with geological and groundwater constraints limiting further expansion.

Quarrying is all about the long-game. Back in the 1950’s, armed with the knowledge that the current Hunua quarry pit would one day be exhausted, Winstone management acquired a section of farmland adjoining the existing quarry.

Known as Symonds Hill, the land was purchased from a local family.

For nearly 40 years the land sat unused, but for some time now work has been going on to ensure that a new pit on the Symonds Hill land will be fully operational by the time the current Hunua pit closes.

Quarries are a big deal for any environment and understandably it’s a lengthy Council consent and mitigation process.

Symonds Hill was purchased as farmland in the 1950’s but had been regenerating for years.

Keith Barber, Winstone’s National Biodiversity Manager, says that it has taken eight years to get consent to quarry at Symonds Hill.

“The area itself was already zoned for quarrying by the Council, but between the 1950’s and now the land has regenerated and has new conservation values,” says Barber.

“So while we could technically quarry, we couldn’t touch a tree, stream or animal to do so,” says Barber.

“To get consent to do this we had to more than make up for what we will lose with the land we clear.

“This has involved upgrading the streams on our land, planting more and of the same species of trees and vegetation, and extensive pest control.”

Barber says specific concerns on this site were the presence of kereru (wood pigeon) and the Auckland green gecko, which is native to the Hunuas.

“We’re happy that replanting and pest control is protecting kereru, but we had to go the extra mile for the geckos.”

“The Auckland green gecko is native to the Hunuas, and we worked with local iwi, DoC, Auckland Council and environmental groups to find as many as we could before we cleared the

vegetation. All up 39 geckos were relocated into nearby forest on our property.”

Up to 12cm in length, the green geckos stood out quite clearly from the surrounding foliage when volunteers searched the forest at night with powerful spotlights.

The new Symonds Hill Quarry is roughly 1km away from the existing processing plant and stock yard, meaning rocks will need to be transported from Symonds Hill for processing and sale. With no road into the new site, a suitable haul road was needed.

Following the careful removal of clay and other unsuitable soft material from the new road alignment, Barber says that drainage was installed in the road base and a 1 metre thick hard rock sub base was laid on top.

“This was quite a big job. We needed to make sure that the road was going to be wide enough and robust enough to last in excess of 35 years.

“A sub-standard road surface would result in slower truck cycles and that would be inefficient,” says Barber.

A 600m section of the haul road will eventually connect the Symonds Hill pit to the existing processing plant.

At 20 metres wide, with a 1 in 10 gradient and in difficult terrain, it required a lot of construction skills.

Winstone’s Senior Projects Manager, John Hogan, is now getting ready to excavate to form the quarry benches.

Investigations of the resource have been ongoing, but the overburden of clay and weathered rocks that lie on top of the blue rock now needs to be removed.

“Before production at the existing Hunua pit can begin to wind down, the Symonds Hill quarry has got to be sufficiently developed for sustainable production.”

Greywacke is quarried at Hunua. It is a hard compressed rock suitable for processing into a variety of products from concrete aggregates and sealing chips to road basecoures and general fill materials, all of which are produced at Hunua.

Greywacke forms the backbone to New Zealand, making up the main mountain ranges of both the North and South Islands.

The greywacke at Hunua was deposited 220-145 million years ago in Late Triassic to Late Jurassic times.

“The area itself was already zoned for quarrying by the Council, but between the 1950’s and now the land has

Winstone’s Symonds Hill Quarry neighbours the existing Hunua Quarry.

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24 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

Quarrying » Winstones Hunua

On the move: the Auckland Green Gecko.

Gecko work recognised Winstone’s work in setting up the new quarry at Hunua was recognised in this year’s MIMICO Environmental Excellence Awards.

The company received the silver Award for its work in relocating the native green gecko.

Awards judge, Dr Morgan Williams says the work showed the “value of investing in research and involving a university and students”.

“This is what Keith Barber did at Hunua Quarry as part of his locating and relocation of the Auckland Green Gecko

in the area being prepared for a new pit,” said Williams.

“He invested in an MSc study and state of the art radio transmitters to track post release survival.

“This was a great study for an MSc student and one that exposes students and staff to the quarrying industry and the care taken when a new pit has to be opened.

“Such research also often highlights, as it did in this case, how little is sometimes known about the ecology and abundance of some of our less obvious indigenous species.”

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After extensive research, travel and training and having invested in the necessary equipment, Applied undertook its first polyurea spray job on a carbon leach tank at Oceania Gold four years ago. Nine tanks at the McRae site have now had their life extended as Polyurea limits the corrosion and gives back some structural integrity to corroded tanks. The tanks are able to be cleaned more effectively as it no longer takes a couple of days for gases to dissipate before being able to enter the tank.

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tank at Waihi Gold have also been sprayed with abrasion resistant polyurea.

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Another unique coating, resistant to chemicals and able to withstand high temperature to 260 C has been used in the illusion column at Waihi Gold.

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A recent conference attended by Murray in Fort Lauderdale was to launch another exciting product Eoncoat. Whilst the product is still in its infancy the manufacturers predict it will eliminate corrosion by its ability to alloy steel and bloom a flexible ceramic coating to the surface.

Equipment and product are on their way to New Zealand to begin trials here.

Through the alliances made with suppliers in the USA an exclusive agency for dust suppression and soil stabilisation developed in conjunction with the University of Texas was offered to Applied. Murray has twice been to Texas to learn and understand the product applications.

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Issue 3, 2014 » Mining NZ 25

Mining Pioneers »

Recognition for tunnelling heroes The new Arras Tunnel commemorates the efforts and sacrifice of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company during World War One. Karen Phelps reports on the emotional opening ceremony.

About 50 descendants of men who fought in the World War One New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company as well as members of the general public all filed through the new Arras Tunnel beneath the National War Memorial Park in Wellington for its official opening in September.

Tunnelling Company family members held a placard featuring the Tunnelling Company badge and the family name of a tunneller.

Members of the public helped carry around eighty placards of names of men on the Tunnelling Company Roll of Honour.

The New Zealand Tunnelling Company extended existing tunnel systems beneath the city of Arras and created the most extensive underground network in British military history in preparation for the 1917 Battle of Arras.

It is estimated more than 25,000 men passed through the caverns during the course of the war with thousands living in habitable safe surrounds so that when the day for the attack came they could issue from them unsuspected by the enemy.

The family members representing the Tunnelling Company men were part of the official party led by Hon. Chris Finlayson and which included representatives from the French Embassy, Arras Tourist Office, and the RNZRSA along with the Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown.

Accompanying the families was also a body of soldiers from the Linton-based 2nd Engineer Regiment (2ER).

Kit Wilson, chairperson of Waihi Heritage Vision, which helped organise the family participation in the event, says that while the Prime Minister had read out a Tunneller’s letter at the 2012 Anzac Day address in Wellington, the Arras Tunnel event was the first Government official and public recognition for the important role the Tunnelling Company played.

Family members representing the World War One New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company men were part of the official party which opened the new Arras Tunnel in Wellington.

“Hundreds of Wellingtonians lined up to walk through the tunnel,” says Wilson.

“It was special as there are a number of families of descendants who live in the lower North Island and have never been able to attend any of the events that Waihi Heritage Vision has organised in Waihi,” he says.

“For a number of descendants, this was the first time they had got to meet.”

“It also brings out of the woodwork many descendants who did not know what their forefathers did. So now it’s no longer a forgotten story. It’s a story more and more people are becoming interested in.”

Tom Kiely, 90, and Dick Martin, 86, whose fathers served as Tunnellers, along with NZDF Colonel John Howard whose uncle served as an officer in the Tunnelling Company, laid a wreath in memory of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior prior to the official opening.

“For Tom Kiely, who was named after his father Sapper Thomas Kiely, it was an especially poignant moment.

“Tom’s father died when he was very young. He was not old enough to attend his father’s funeral and pay his respects. To be able to participate in an occasion such as this and to publicly remember these men, many of them Public Work Department miners and civil engineers, in a tunnel structure which is an integral part of the National War Memorial Park, is highly emotional,” says Wilson.

He says that the tunnellers had been a largely forgotten unit.

“The Tunnellers returned home dropping anchor in Auckland Harbour on the evening of April 23 1919. Within 24 hours - a day before Anzac Day 1919 - the men left for their homes throughout New Zealand and the Company ceased to exist.

“They left and came back without fanfare so to have this recognition for them nearly 100 years later is fantastic.

“It also brings out of the woodwork many descendants who did not know what their forefathers did. So now it’s no longer a forgotten story. It’s a story more and more people are becoming interested in.”

Wilson says that Waihi Heritage Vision hopes to have Arras Tourist Office officials from France who were at the ceremony return in 2015 along with the Arras Mayor for a Waihi visit.

The following year 2016 will be the official opening of the NZ Engineers Tunnelling Company Memorial in Waihi.

Read More Online VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.waterfordpress.co.nz FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO SEE OUR OTHER PUBLICATIONS

26 Mining NZ » Issue 3, 2014

cantly reducing down

OIL DISTRIBUTORS KEEPING NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRY MOVING