We’re in a giant fucking hole. It’s time to stop digging!

This October the annual Minerals Forum is happening in Kirikiriroa, Waikato. Organised by mining lobby group Straterra it is playing host to fossil fuel and mining companies from around the country and even the wider Pacific. Originally scheduled for the end of September it has been delayed to the 12th, 13th and 14th of October due to COVID alert levels. Also sponsoring the industry event are organisations like New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals, the Australian coal company Bathurst Resources and the Aussie mining company AUSIMM. 

In 2019 it faced staunch opposition by community groups in Otepoti. Hundreds of protesters formed a human barricade delaying the conference for hours. Policing was reportedly violent, there were multiple arrests and one person ended up in hospital with a reported broken leg.

This year, despite the recent lock downs and change in alert levels, organising the opposition is continuing. 

If you’re keen to get involved email: nomineralsforum@protonmail.com

We will keep updates posted on our blog as things are announced.

A prosperous low-emissions economy

Despite being supported by some of the largest fossil fuel based companies and organisations in the Pacific, the Forum is trying to position itself as focusing on “a prosperous low-emissions economy.” It would be really interesting to see just what this means to them. 

– Does it follow the line of Energy and Resources (and managed isolation and kiwibuild and many other things) Minister Megan Woods talking about “green minerals?” Quite what those are I would be very interested to hear. 

– Is it about the unproven and untested carbon capture and storage opportunities of giant holes in the ground? 

– Is it about how we can get rich out of precious minerals like gold and minerals for electronics while cleaning up and regenerating the native bush? 

If you want to see a particularly stellar piece of post-gold mining restoration work have a look at Mikonui mine on the West coast which has been described as a “moon scape” presumably without the astronauts. In fact one curiousity involves a case of threatened legal action by a board member of the mining company NZG Ltd, David Wong-Tung, over Newsroom’s reporting of the situation.  

The piece in question can be read here

The forum itself

The first way we can get an idea of what will will happen this year is their speakers list.

One company with a prime place this year is OceanaGold. They are also quite coincidentally I’m sure one of the leading sponsors. They are becoming well known for their mining operations on DOC land. Despite Jacinda’s promise in 2017 to end mining on DOC land this has actually increased with dozens of applications pending approval.

To read about OceanaGold’s mine in Whangamatā read this.

Continuing to look at the speakers they do sometimes look like they’re thinking about the “low emissions economy” stuff. For example, there are speakers on safety and mining sustainability. However, I do wonder what scarce resource you can possibly mine sustainably?  Also, why if they’re taking safety so seriously, is the E Tu union which representing miners absent from the discussions? Perhaps the hint here is that they aren’t taking either seriously? Surely not. 

If you read on it becomes clearer. There are also speakers such as Richard Tacon, the CEO of the Australian coal company Bathurst Resources. Bathurst are more known for giant coal mines than they are for windfarms. There’s also Brent Francis, the CEO of New Zealand Coal and Carbon. 

For the full list of speakers click here.

Looking at the programme, it’s revealing that even in their “low emissions future” panel discussion a key part is talk about “big offsets” rather than a phase out of coal mining, for example. Sadly it seems as though they plan to keep the mining and drilling party going for as long as they can rather than phase out their operations.

Once you pass their environmentally friendly beginning set piece in the programme it becomes very clear what their goal is: continuing to grow the industry. While devoting a discussion stream to safety and efficiency, which is admirable considering recent history, there is also an entire stream devoted to lobbying and regulations. There is a workshop with fossil fuel friendly mayors from the West Coast, and even one on the lobbying strategies that Straterra is using to influence government policy.

For the full programme click here. 

When they finally move to discussing possibly transition related things such as workshops on rare earth minerals for batteries etc they cap it off with an entire workshop devoted to carbon capture, sequestration and storage. This is being presented by Chris Consoli, the Senior Consultant from the Global CCS Institute.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with the piece of bullshit which is CCS it involves capturing the carbon emitted by a factory or power station, some how safely transporting (keep in mind that these gasses are poisonous and also pool in places so you can’t just use a giant pipe) to a giant underground airtight storage facility where it will then remain there for ever. What could possibly go wrong right?

So far the carbon capture side of things has been successful but the only thing it has been used for is enhanced oil recovery by pumping gasses into an oil well to increase pressure. What hasn’t been proven is that you can safely store vast amounts of carbon gases underground and without it ever leaking. Ultimately talk about CCS is a strategy the industry has been using for decades to say that change isn’t necessary because there will be a silver bullet at some point in the future. When the silver bullet will turn up or whether it is safe is irrelevant. These companies don’t want change and their continued promotion of this technology is evidence of this.  

Sadly, but unsurprisingly, it looks as though the Forum run by a bunch of mining and drilling giants on being part of a “low emissions economy” is a pile of badly done greenwash.

Clearly people in the regions need work. On the West Coast, for example, mining is a huge part of the local economy and it’s not like tourism is going to bounce back anytime soon. This is the same in Taranaki. Oil and gas is huge and people do need the jobs. However, these Forums are a wasted opportunity. Rather than come up with excuses to keep doing the same harmful stuff they’ve been doing for decades these annual conferences could be used as part of the just transition process. They could be part of genuine discussion and planning on a managed phase out of the industry as soon as possible while creating work elsewhere. The problem isn’t that businesses can’t do this it’s just that they don’t want to and won’t. They won’t while they can still make money and profit doing the same destructive and dangerous stuff they’re already doing.

Here’s hoping there’s a huge physically distanced crowd in October telling the companies that when you’re in a hole it’s time to stop digging.