Source: New Zealand Government
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today.
It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the Minerals Strategy for New Zealand and our Critical Minerals List.
Of course our joint presence fulfils a deeper presence. It is a validation of an industry that has suffered from excessive regulation and poisonous politics. It is a chance to stand with a skilled workforce that is literally worth its weight in gold.
A year of delivery for the minerals sector under the Coalition Government
In May last year I stood in front of a packed hall in Blackball on the West Coast, people who depend on our mineral resources.
I presented to them a vision for the future – a vision that would see our wealth base grow by utilising our mineral reserves to benefit all New Zealanders, increasing our domestic resilience by reducing reliance on imported minerals.
I said this meant owning up to the fact that we will use our indigenous fossil fuels. Resources integral to our modern industrial civilisation. We do have valuable minerals, oil and gas.
These minerals include coal, a vital ingredient to steel-making, a source of energy and jobs, a stream of export earnings.
I spoke of our focus on cutting barriers to development but not corners, and increasing New Zealand’s contributions to global supply chains, especially for minerals that are needed to support the transition to diverse sources of energy.
Dealing with banks
It is not widely known but some barriers are not imposed by government but come in the form of corporate straitjackets. One should look no further than the directors and executives of our banking sector. Some are in thrall to climate group-think.
They are the new corporate gatekeepers, imposing moral priorities under the cover of saving the planet upon regional communities. Not only are they inflicting their luxury beliefs on our farming industry but they are actively de-banking mineral firms.
Kiwi enterprises legitimately operating in the natural resource sector are being driven to despair by these woke-riddled, corporate undertakers.
This malevolence flows from cult like accords fostered within the UN where banks and their sustainability units foolishly believe they can change the weather. New Zealand banks should abandon such agreements as the Net Zero Banking Alliance. These instruments are alien and represent a foreign threat to regional development.
To this end New Zealand First will be introducing a members bill stopping the banks and related corporate bodies from behaving in this harmful manner. We cannot let them hold our economic development to ransom to suit the privileged cabal employed on environmental, social and inclusion matters.
This will include the ability for regulators to remove a bank’s operating licence if it persist with virtue-signalling destructiveness.
As an Associate Finance Minister, I will be working closely with the Minister for Regulation to identify how elements of our bill can be used in the wider government work programme.
I would like to acknowledge the work of ACT MP Mark Cameron on this issue so far. He is a champion for the farming sector.
I want the mining sector on an enduring pathway to boost regional opportunities and jobs, increase our self-sufficiency, to be a critical part of our export-led focus, especially as we take advantage of the global opportunities for new minerals uses.
How can we achieve such outcomes if key intermediaries such as banks and insurance companies are going to bully our Kiwi businesses and their employees out of the economy? When did citizens authorise corporates to use climate extremism to bankrupt firm and family alike?
It is bad enough that Aussie-owned banks are behaving in this predatory manner but it is especially galling that Kiwibank is treating Kiwis in this vein. Had New Zealand First known this would be their attitude we may very well have formed a different view about their recent recapitalisation initiative.
Our Government has progressed in enabling an environment for a responsible and productive minerals sector to thrive.
Resources-friendly policy
We’ve moved quickly to enact policy and legislative fixes. Our upgrades have included introducing the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill that will not only remove the ban on petroleum exploration beyond onshore Taranaki – it will deliver a new tier of minerals permit to make it easier for people to undertake small-scale non-commercial gold mining activity across the country. We expect to finalise and pass the Bill in the coming months.
We’ve made changes to the Resource Management Act to align consenting for coal mining with other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development.
Timely permit decisions are vital in supporting the sector to get to work. Following direction on my expectations, regulator New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals has made significant progress dealing with the backlog of permit decisions while managing the growing influx of new applications as activity ramps up.
Figures for 2024 show a 74 per cent increase in minerals permitting output – that’s the number of outcomes made on minerals applications – compared to the previous calendar year.
In 2023, NZP&M received 288 new and change minerals permit applications and in 2024 it was 447. That is a 55 per cent increase – and a very good indicator of a sector that is really starting to hum.
We have begun our journey to rebuild international investor awareness in our mining sector through the delivery of investment aids such as the GNS Endowment Study. This is a specialist report bringing together extensive technical research to identify short, medium, and long-term prospects for potential development.
We have returned to the international mining stage to make sure New Zealand is back on the agenda for international investors and challenge responsible operators to explore what we have to offer.
Finally, I can’t understate the impact that our new Fast-track Approvals legislation will have in sending well-planned, investment-ready projects along the path of development.
The Act’s broad and overarching purpose statement is to recognise the contributions significant projects such as mining operations can make to our communities and economy.
At long last the gate-keepers behind the outdated Wildlife Act and cumbersome Conservation Act will be brought to heel. On the former there is more to do. Sadly it is often delivered at an operational level in a way inimical to our productivity.
Previously mining companies were unable to secure permits under these statutes for dubious reasons. That has now disappeared. If there are implementation problems the Government will make additional amendments to the law.
A one-stop shop will streamline the pathway to attaining the approvals required for mining activities, removing the multiple application processes operators currently must navigate to mine in New Zealand.
Land access
One of the key areas I see this process improving is concessions for land access. An array of high-value mining and quarrying projects are already approved to travel this consenting pathway.
Officials estimate the number of jobs across the mining projects listed in Schedule 2 of the Fast-track Approvals Act at over 2,500 direct fulltime jobs at peak production. Many of these roles will be well-paying regional jobs with significant opportunities for training and growing skills.
I don’t need to tell the good folks of Waihi that every direct employee of a mining company generates many more job opportunities. The environmental scientists that provide expert advice, the drilling companies that contract with OceanaGold, and all the other skills needed to run a successful operation spread out over the local, regional, and national economy.
For the seven listed mining projects that will generate export revenue, estimates are a peak of $2.5 billion in 2033, with gold playing a big part. This is what our minerals potential looks like.
Going forward, this is what consenting will look like for significant mining projects in our country.
As our industry expands, we need to ensure that Paamu and statutes such as the Queen Elizabeth the Second National Trust Act are fit for purpose and do not inhibit the growth of critical minerals.
When there is opportunity, we are going to say yes
I will make one further note about this Government’s work to provide the certainty that the sector needs to push forward.
Not all conservation land is equal. We have an inordinately large conservation estate of varying quality.
Stewardship land is managed by the Department of Conservation until it is appropriately assessed for its conservation value and classified. Around 30 per cent of conservation areas are held in stewardship – that’s over 2.7 million hectares or 9 per cent of New Zealand’s total land area.
A lot of that land isn’t considered to have special conservation or scenic values, but we do know that there are areas there likely to contain mineral deposits.
This Government supports sustainable and environmentally approved mining on stewardship land and other categories of DOC land but we are very clear that national parks and other land categories identified under schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act are not on the table.
It would be remiss of me not to also mention my favourite amphibian, Freddy the Frog at this point. I raise this not in a flippant way, but as realist wanting to have a genuine conversation about how we focus our efforts and limited resources in protecting the natural assets that New Zealanders value most.
It is correct that our Archey’s frog is endangered – but it is not from mining. The real threat to Freddy is the rats, stoats and pigs that populate significant extents of our stewardship and conservation land.
I put to you that the work we are doing to enable responsible mining in New Zealand is the best news Freddy has had for a long time. As part of its listed Fast-track Approvals project, OceanaGold will be stepping up with an intensive predator control programme in the Coromandel Forest Park.
In fact, it’s because of OceanaGold and its specialist conservationists that we have some of the most insightful research collected on the species to date. Over $600,000 towards ecological outcomes around this mining site.
Actually a much larger sum when one considers the broader commercial footprint including Macraes, Otago, South Island. Such a quantum is not possible without a successful business.
It is time for Kiwis to have an honest and considered debate on mining. On this score I am going to pay more attention to the blue collar community than woke collar spongers.
This engagement will lead us to the complex and deadweight nature of our climate change regulations. They are excessive for our small economy. They run the risk of deindustrialisation, exporting jobs and importing carbon.
Of course this is all intertwined with environmental, social and government reporting requirements. dubious value and should be discretionary at best. Green scrub that has spread too far and needs a severe prune.
We need to acknowledge the criticality of minerals to our daily lives, the importance of maintaining a strong, independent economy with well-paying jobs and opportunities in our regions. Why import materials we can perfectly adequately supply ourselves?
Some people argue against minerals extraction, but gladly rely on the conveniences of modern society and economy built by those resources. As our Prime Minister said, we don’t have the luxury of turning off growth.
A strategy to ensure momentum is enduring
Some of you in the sector may be looking at this progress and feeling like we’ve been here before, only for the hard-won momentum to die with a change in Government.
I hear your concerns. I’ve spoken at length about how a lack of long-term, enduring strategic direction has hindered this country in reaping the economic and security benefits our bounty of natural resources presents.
Today we change that.
The Minerals Strategy for New Zealand adopts a strategic lens out to 2040, focusing our approach to the development of our minerals estate with a delivery roadmap to get us there. This is a holistic picture of minerals production from the earth, from reprocessing waste material, and from potential recycling and recovery.
There are three main changes to the strategy follow consultation with New Zealanders.
We have reframed the strategy to have a clear vision, goal and succinct outcomes.
Our key outcomes for the sector are productive, valued, and resilient, and are guided by overarching principles that respect Treaty settlement obligations and ensure responsible practices.
Minerals developments in New Zealand will happen in a responsible manner where environmental guard rails are appropriate to the risks being managed. The protection, the health and safety of our workers, and impacts on regional communities is important.
This means we are working towards sector growth and innovation that contributes to New Zealand’s prosperity. The sector’s performance and responsible practices need to be emphasised. Advocacy and being forward leaning is important. I recognise the sector has been subject to misinformation but the mute button is not an option.
We have updated the goal of doubling our exports to $3 billion by 2035 from the previous goal of $2 billion. Statistics NZ reports that mineral exports for the financial year ending June 2023 totalled $1.46 billion and our submitters were clear – we needed a more ambitious goal.
Finally, I want to assure you that we are not downing tools when there is still work to do. The addition of a Delivery Roadmap clearly sets out the key actions the Government will take to achieve the strategy’s goal and vision.
In the short term, key actions include creating a network to support minerals research and development, making information about minerals and regulations more accessible to potential investors, and engaging with countries to support supply chain resilience for critical minerals.
Longer term, we will deliver a minerals research strategy and address workforce development needs, skills and training programmes.
Through our Minerals Strategy we have formed the foundations. Soon our government will roll out the refreshed approach to inward foreign direct investment. You have told me that an overseas investment process that is efficient, timely and not too costly is important.
We have a pathway forward. A permitting regime which acknowledges the principle of risk proportionality. A recognition that excessive climate net zero regulations will thwart economic growth. A consideration of ecological, community, tangata whenua issues that is balanced and does not present scope for veto power.
An expanded Critical Minerals List
I don’t have to explain to anyone here today how we rely on a wide range of minerals to enable the comforts of our lives. Every road you drive on, every light switch you turn on, our schools, hospitals and homes. All are enabled in some way by the extraction of our natural resources.
If suddenly we couldn’t access aggregate to construct our roads, phosphate to support the growth of our crops or iron sand to make steel for our buildings, our economy would grind to a halt.
On the matter of iron sands, the recent Taharoa RMA hearing process for consents to continue an activity that has been happening for over 50 years was a circus. It shows that more robustness is needed. Hopefully the treatment this firm receives will be inordinately better under the Fast-track processes.
Equally, there is no low emissions energy transition without minerals – no batteries, no electric cars, no wind turbines and no solar panels.
Unfortunately, we have never sought a comprehensive picture of the minerals needs of New Zealand now and in the future, or how we ensure those supplies are secure and affordable.
I am delighted today to release New Zealand’s Critical Minerals List, a holistic picture of the minerals that are economically important and are vulnerable to supply risk or essential to unlocking other critical minerals.
Following public consultation last September, the Critical Minerals List now features 37 minerals, up from 35.
The Coalition Government agreed to include both gold and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking, on the list in recognition of their importance to our minerals sector and economy, and in unlocking other critical minerals.
Together, they represent 80 per cent of our mineral exports, generating export revenues of around $1.2 billion in the year to June 2023.
Simply put, OceanaGold’s Waihi Operation today shows gold investments needs skills, machinery, resources, and capacity to support our modern industrial system.
The legacy of gold- and coal-mining is that of a catalyst for transformation – for our economy, for our development, for our technical skills and trades, and for our place on the world stage.
Future mining in New Zealand will play to our strengths in terms of existing production while we develop new opportunities. That means gold and metallurgical coal.
We will also offer more bespoke and boutique opportunities for the right investors.
Of our 37 critical minerals, we produce or have the potential to produce 21 here in New Zealand. We are a prospective destination for sought-after minerals like antimony and we have operators working rare earth, vanadium and titanium projects – all exciting opportunities for New Zealand to support the international transition to a clean energy future.
Our list will contribute to New Zealand’s work on critical international supply chains and allow us to investigate specific actions for securing better access to the minerals we’ve deemed critical.
This could include preferential pathways and settings for development and supply of minerals on the list, or building international relationships to ensure secure supply of those we can’t produce. This work programme forms part of the Strategy’s delivery roadmap and will kick off shortly.
Close
When I left Blackball last year, I did so with the promise I would continue to be a dogged champion for the minerals sector and the economic prosperity it can offer New Zealand, if done right.
I hope I have shown you that with the work we have done to get the right direction and settings in place, you can have confidence that we have an enduring pathway forward.
This Government is taking an active, deliberate and co-ordinated approach to harnessing the potential of our natural resources to take us from ‘open for business’ to ‘doing business’.
The sector has been a transformative agent in the past, and I expect it to play a transforming role into the future.