Today, as seabed miners Trans
Tasman Resources (TTR) withdrew from their failing Fast
Track bid, the NZ government has announced a $80
million dollar ‘critical minerals slush fund.’
Greenpeace is questioning if this signals an invitation for
TTR to have another bite at the cherry.
It comes just
weeks after it was revealed the NZ government has been in backroom
talks with the US Trump administration over a minerals
deal, which includes vanadium, found at TTR’s desired
mining site off Taranaki.
“They say the definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting a different result,” says Greenpeace Aotearoa’s
Juressa Lee.
“The courts have said no, iwi have said
no, thousands of New Zealanders have said no, and now even
the Government’s own Fast-Track panel has declined it. Yet
here is Shane Jones, doubling down with $80 million of
taxpayer money to try to breathe this destructive, failed
industry back to life.”
In 2024, TTR withdrew from the
EPA process right before new Fast Track legislation was
announced by the government, allowing them to
apply.
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“In the same moment that TTR realises their
Fast Track dreams are over, we’ve got the NZ government
desperately finding a way to make their project a reality,”
says Lee.
“We have to ask: is TTR’s withdrawal today
a genuine exit, or just a tactical retreat knowing the
government is orchestrating a 6th bite at the
cherry?
“Is it planning to re-apply to the now amended
and “even more favourable” Fast-Track, hoping the Government
will appoint a more obedient panel next time, while the
government uses its new slush fund to pave their way with
infrastructure?
“It seems as though the Government is
actively coaching mining companies on how to bypass the very
processes that are meant to vet them.””If this is the case,
we certainly hope TTR submits a new application rather than
the same one it has flogged for a decade and we’ve beaten
down at every step of the way.”
On Thursday, TTR
released news that they had officially withdrawn from the
Fast Track process, after they were given a draft rejection
decision earlier in February. The Panel ruled that seabed
mining in Taranaki could harm threatened species like pygmy
blue whales and penguins, and could not be safely managed,
and that economic benefits don’t outweigh the
risks.
On the same day, Shane Jones and Winston Peters
announced $80 million dollars earmarked for critical
minerals projects in the Regional Infrastructure
Fund.
“By funneling $80 million into these projects,
Shane Jones and Christopher Luxon are laying the red carpet
for overseas mining giants to treat New Zealand as a
low-standard extraction zone that services US interests,”
says Lee.
“This $80 million belongs to the people of
Aotearoa for real infrastructure, like renewable energy, not
as a consolation prize for mining companies who can’t get
their projects past a basic environmental
assessment.”
“So who are these mining projects for? It
sounds as though they are designed to pander to the wants of
the Trump administration, and are not in the best interests
of New Zealanders.”
“Iwi, environmentalists, community
groups, and ocean protectors have been fighting for decades.
Any attempt to start seabed mining in Aotearoa – whatever
avenues or work around mining companies try to use – they
will face strong
resistance.”
