Alluvial gold mining on the West Coast. Photo: Supplied / Minerals West Coast
As the price of gold soars to a record NZ$5000 an ounce, the West Coast Regional Council is bracing for an influx of miners new to the industry - and its environmental rules.
The council issues resource consents for the earthworks and water use needed in alluvial goldmining and it deals with recurring complaints about creeks running dirty, allegedly from mining operations.
That keeps West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) compliance staff on the hop - checking out the cause and making site visits to see if miners are sticking to the conditions of their consents.
The council's Resource Management Chair Brett Cummings - himself a goldminer - warned last week that the council's workload was likely to intensify.
The gold price was likely to attract new players inexperienced in running alluvial mining sites, he said.
The council's latest compliance report shows five goldminers were pinged with enforcement action - usually an infringement notice and fine - for failing to keep to the rules.
Two were exceeding the area they were allowed to dig up; one had dug a bigger pit than his consent allowed, and two had caused dirty water or sediment to flow into local waterways.
And one repeat offender was now before the courts.
But not all complaints about goldmining were well-founded.
One about an access road being built had involved private land and breached no rules.
Three more, about dirty water in Waimea Creek, the Little Grey River and at Awatuna, proved groundless - or not the fault of miners.
In another case, dirty water leaching from an old mining tunnel was fixed on the spot by the current miner, who sealed it off with gravel.
People were entitled to raise concerns about pollution of waterways, but should bear in mind that staff time and travel was involved, Cummings said.
"We're still getting a lot of complaints that turn out to be minor or not significant. People have a right to complain, but they should be aware that these staff visits are all costing the ratepayers."
WCRC chair Peter Haddock, a retired goldminer, confirmed to LDR that the council is upping its compliance game, with a focus on repeat offenders, and not just in goldmining.
West Coast Regional Council chair Peter Haddock, a retired goldminer, confirmed that the council is upping its compliance game, with a focus on repeat offenders. Photo: Supplied
It recently hired former police officer Chris Maitland on a fixed term contract to beef up its investigations.
Haddock said prosecutions are a last ditch measure: council policy was first to engage with consent holders, educate them, empower them - and if all else fails, enforce, he told LDR.
Education was the key to making sure the expected newcomers to goldmining, and some old-timers, kept to the rules, he said.
The WCRC chair last week took five compliance staff on a tiki tour of alluvial gold mining sites to show them what good practice looks like.
The council was also looking to upskill miners - and new ones in particular, he said.
"We are working with Minerals West Coast to hold workshops for consent holders, using experienced miners to help and advise them."
The workshops planned for later this year would focus on gold miners in the Waimea catchment north-east of Hokitika, the area that generates more than its share of complaints about water quality, Haddock said.
There are other signs that the openly pro-development council is getting tougher with polluters.
It recently prosecuted one of the West Coast's major industries - CMP Kokiri (Anzco Foods).
The beef processor pumps $133m into the West Coast economy annually and employs 190 people.
But staff reports over its performance have become increasingly blunt, describing the company's yearly environmental self-reports as "not being credible for the past three years."
The company will be sentenced next month for discharging contaminants to water.
The WCDC is also prosecuting the owners of the controversial private dump known as the Taylorville Resource Park, for discharging contaminants to land.
That case comes up next month in the Greymouth District Court.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
