Miners at War, Beneath Hill 60

In the First World War miners from England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand worked underground on the front line in what has been called the 'Forgotten War'. Now, a feature film dramatising the experiences of one group of Australian tunnellers provides some insight into their wartime service. Waihi is widely regarded as the home of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company as the town provided more enlistments than any other area except Auckland. Waihi Heritage Vision has worked with Paramount Pictures and will screen the film at a special showing in Thames prior to its general release. Read more

The Schedule 4 Debate
What is Schedule 4? What is being considered? Why now? Read more

What are the facts regarding the economics of mining? Click here for an operating example.

At times it can seem as if there's a lot of heat and not much light in the debate on Schedule 4. Click here for another view.

Tui Mine Clean Up
The abandoned Tui mine on the outskirts of Te Aroha township is once again in the news. What is happening? Read more

MinEx
MinEx is a national Health & Safety Council for the New Zealand minerals industry. Its main purpose is to assist the minerals industry to improve its health and safety performance, and provide centralised industry representation in matters relating to health and safety.

Other services provided by the Council include:

• collation and analysis of industry incident and accident statistics
• formation of an industry employer database
• setting standards for industry approval, including Codes of Practice and Guidelines.

Objectives

The Objectives of the Council are to improve and promote the Health & Safety Standards and the Health & Safety Performance of the Minerals Industry in New Zealand.

'Minerals Industry' or the 'Industry' means all companies involved in exploration for, and production of, any mineral including aggregate, rock, sand, gravel, metallic minerals, industrial minerals, non-metallic minerals and coal.

For more information phone MinEx on 0800 4 MINEX (0800 464 396) email them at office@minex.org.nz or go to www.minex.org.nz

Natural Riches Lie Untapped
Doug Gordon
We are a rich nation, second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of natural capital per capita.
Some of our minerals - gold, other metals and low-rank coals - are valued at more than $250 billion. That's around $60,000 for each New Zealand man, woman and child - without factoring in oil and gas.

The court of public opinion appears to be saying we cannot afford to use our natural resources because it will damage the planet. I say we cannot afford not to use them. And that we can do so in an environmentally responsible way that not only boosts our welfare and wellbeing, but also keeps a clean environment.
Read more

The Natural Resource Potential of New Zealand, Richard Barker, March 2008
The minerals, oil, gas and coal being produced in NewZealand have a value of about $4,500 million per year, and contribute more than $2,000 million to exports. Potential exists to maintain and expand the range and value of what we produce. What are the impediments to realising our resource potential? Consulting Geologist Richard Barker reports. Natural Resource Potential of New Zealand (1.4MB PDF)


Black Smokers
Watch the work conducted by Cornel de Ronde and GNS Science on offshore submarine volcanoes on this programme from Australia's ABC. Dr. de Ronde and a team of scientists from the GNS research centre in Wellington, New Zealand head to Brothers Volcano to map the sea floor in unprecedented detail. Their mission: to create an accurate virtual fly over zone of the volcano and film its active smouldering chimneys, the 'black smokers' .

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2008/02/14/2160790.htm

Coal & Climate Change 'Coal Meeting the Climate Challenge: Technology to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions' www.worldcoal.org

Multi billion dollar potential in Northland
Northland’s new mineral study released at the end of May has revealed the potential for $28 billion non-metallic and $5.2 billion of metallic mineral deposits in the region.The study was conducted by Geological and Nuclear Science and the NZ Institute of Economic Research, with the Foundation of Research Science and Technology funding the assessment of Northland’s mineral resources. It was also supported by the Crown Minerals Group of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Far North and Whangarei District Councils, with Enterprise Northland facilitating the process.

Two PDF reports are available on this site.

Minerals Potential of Northland – Summary
Northland's Mineral Resources – Potential Economic Impact

Or download the 5.9 MB PDF Mineral Resource Assessment of Northland – May 2007 from www.enterprisenorthland.co.nz

Mineral exploration on public conservation land.
See The Guideline and Application Form for Low Impact Prospecting and Exploration on DoC's website http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=43638

Sustainable strategic approach urged in NZMIA subsmission on government's Draft Energy Strategy and Climate Change Policy.
NZMIA regards sustainability as a business approach that integrates environmental, social and economic aspects to ensure the long-term supply of minerals to our society. Why does this concern all New Zealanders? We need aggregates, ironsands and stone for the built environment, coal for energy, industrial minerals for our primary industries – horticulture, milk, meat, wool – gold and base metals for balance of payments and strategic uses.
Click here for more

A ‘fair shake’ in the High Country Tenure Review
Why is the government's review of privatising South Island High Country so important to us all? NZMIA CEO Doug Gordon backgrounds the issues and explains the consequences of 'locking up' mineral ownership, followed by the NZMIA submission on the proposal.
Click here for more

Glass Earth Limited
Fantastic new age technology now being applied to looking one kilometre into the earth's surface. Glass Earth is presently surveying the Otago region. This technology has benefits for planning for a sustainable society: water for farming, industry and people, aggregates for the built environment, coal and gas for our energy needs, base and precious metals, and knowledge of geology for human infrastructure siting. www.glassearthlimited.com

View the TV1 news report on Glass Earth's activities http://media.tvnz.co.nz/news/2007/gold1_260207_128k.wmv

Neptune Resources New Zealand Limited
A leading explorer applying cutting edge environmentally friendly technologies to the prospecting for deep seabed minerals in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone. Watch here for new developments. If you thought the Jago Dive on Lake Taupo was exciting, prepare for what Captain Nemo envisaged in Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. www.neptuneminerals.com

National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA)
Learn about the essential rock that is the foundation to our built environment. We all depend on this resource every day, but rarely bother to stop and think where it comes from and how we extract and process it. www.nssga.org