September 24, 2020
Activists line up against miners
Next month’s Minerals Forum in Hamilton is being tagged greenwashing by a coalition of iwi and conservation groups which is coming together to oppose it.
Emily Bailey from Climate Justice Taranaki says with its line up from gold, coal, oil and gas, iron sand, phosphate, lithium and aggregate mining companies as well as intensive farming companies and government departments, the conference in Hamilton can be seen as a gathering of economic degenerates.
She says this year’s conference theme, Mining’s Role in a Prosperous, Low-emissions Economy, is a cynical attempt to pretend the industries could be low carbon emitters rather than polluters.
She says the industries can have no role in a low-emissions economy other than cleaning up their mess.
The main conference sponsor is Bathurst Resources, which is applying for consent to increase its mine in Canterbury which produces coal used by Fonterra to dry milk powder.
Other attendees include Trans Tasman Resources, which is trying to secure permits to mine the seabed off south Taranaki, and OceanaGold, which has mines in Waihi and Otago.
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