Tui mine What is the Tui mine? The Tui mine was a small underground mine that operated between 1967 and 1973. It was located on the slopes of Mt Te Aroha, near the town of Te Aroha in the Waikato region. It produced a concentrate containing copper, lead, zinc, and small amounts of gold and silver that was exported for refining. Why has it been in the news? The mine closed in 1973 when the company failed, and the site was abandoned soon after, leaving underground mine workings and processed rock (tailings) that have continued to discharge metals into the local streams from the weathering of naturally occurring minerals. Its clean-up has been promoted for many years with little progress until recently – hence the controversy. Why was this allowed to happen? The Tui mine was approved under the 1926 Mining Act that was being reviewed while the mine was operating. The 1926 Act had no requirements for mine site rehabilitation, in common with practices at the time. There was no environmental or planning legislation in New Zealand then. The Mining Act 1971, that did require mine site rehabilitation, came into effect in 1973, shortly before the Tui mine closed – too late to have any effect on this site. Why has it not been fixed earlier? No one was responsible for the site. Several agencies including the Mines Department and local authorities carried out limited repair work, but the controversy over the site continued. Why is it being fixed now? In the late 1990s NZMIA advanced an initiative to have the Tui site rehabilitated. We engaged with Environment Waikato (EW), the Matamata–Piako District Council and the community. Although no NZMIA member created the problem, member companies proposed solutions such as burying the tailings, shifting them to an approved disposal site, or finding a use for them. NZMIA member and environmental consultants URS New Zealand Ltd began evaluating the options at their own expense, from which work, funded eventually by EW, the final rehabilitation plan was chosen. Nine years later the Tui site plan was approved under the Ministry for the Environment Orphan Site cleanup fund. On 29 May 2007 the Government announced it would pay $9.88 million to fund the clean-up project over two years, for completion in 2010. What is happening now? The rehabilitation project now under way involving the Ministry for the Environment, the regional and district councils and the Department of Conservation (that administers the land) aims to stabilise the sites and control water contamination from oxidation of minerals in the mine workings and the tailings deposit. The site may then be used for public recreational purposes, with vehicle access and car parking. Are there other metal mining sites like the Tui mine that could be abandoned? No. There have been no operations under the pre-1970s mining legislation for many years. It is now routine for regional and district councils and (on DoC land) the Minister of Conservation, to require bonds and insurance sufficient to pay for the completion of an approved rehabilitation plan should the company fail at any time. For large operations like the hard rock gold mines these plans, and the adequacy of the bonds and insurance, are reviewed regularly. At critical stages in a mine’s operation this coverage may be tens of millions of dollars. If an operation can’t bear this cost it cannot go ahead. This ensures that the operation, not the public, will bear the cost if a company fails in the future.
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