OceanaGold Waihī campsite gets five-year licence renewal

Detailed summary

An international mining giant has been given the green light to continue using a temporary worker campsite at its Waihī operation for the next five years. Hauraki District Council…

OceanaGold has 10 campsites in the area, nine on DOC land and one on council land. Photo / LDR

An international mining giant has been given the green light to continue using a temporary worker campsite at its Waihī operation for the next five years.

Hauraki District Council approved OceanaGold’s application for a five-year renewal of its Licence to Occupy the campsite, which houses 10 to 15 people, at a meeting on Wednesday.

The licence was up for renewal after the Court of Appeal ruled the mine’s original licence was unlawful in April, finding fencing off a council-owned paper road blocked the public’s right to pass.

Environmental group Ours not Mines was behind the challenge, questioning the council’s ability to grant OceanaGold a 40-year LTO in 2021 to occupy a paper road.

The council previously operated under the assumption the LTO gave OceanaGold the right to build just ventilation shafts.

Mayor Toby Adams put his hand up admitting he didn’t read the legal documentation thoroughly enough but maintained, however, that the council made the right decision to grant the LTO in 2021.

“I smack myself on the hand for not actually reading through the lawyer’s letter and I probably should have ... we should have had more of an understanding but that’s on us.

“I still believe, hand on heart, we made the right decision. We got some flak from it but we made the right decision.”

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