The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the AusIMM, focuses on “promoting excellence across all professional disciplines through advocacy and provision of continuing professional development opportunities.”

New Vale lignite mine, Mataura, Southland.

One such development opportunity might have been the AusIMM’s  upcoming field trip this Saturday to the lignite fields of eastern Southland, as part of its upcoming conference – except the proposed development of those lignite fields bears no kinship with “excellence.”

The proposed development of the lignite was one of Solid Energy’s biggest failures. They spoke boldly about the wealth and glory that would flood the region, but the project was a complete washout, and its exorbitant cost helped lead Solid Energy into financial ruin.

Promotional material for Saturday’s fieldtrip describes the aborted briquetting plant as “the initial step in [a] thwarted lignite development strategy”. Promoters need to say something like that because it would be impossible justifying a field trip to a failure. This plant failed to produce the wee energy sumptuous briquettes that it said it would produce because they were plagued with difficulties. GTL’s North Dakota plant had to be closed after spontaneous combustions.

Calling the development strategy ‘thwarted’ is a compliment to CANA and the hundreds of people who took part in the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival because thwart holds the meaning of being successfully opposed.

What would be the ramifications of openly taking geologists on a trip to see an error in judgment? It could be professional suicide, but it could be the best reason to go on a field trip. Why doesn’t The Mineral Institute encourage its members to openly consider what happens when financial hunger and CEO ego override common sense?

Puzzling on ways to exploit “the potential of NZ’s largest onshore energy resource” has become a fixation to some geologists and mining executives. Thirty years ago Liquid Fuels Trust mooted the idea transforming lignite into liquid petroleum, but studies at the time revealed lignite’s high moisture content was a real problem, so, in order to dry the lignite out, it was suggested they could simply drain the entire Mataura Basin!

“Think big.” or “Don’t think.”? Imagine how much more advanced we would be as a nation if that unbridled ambition went into finding a sustainable solution to our energy needs. The solution is out there, and it will make a lot of people rich, but the industry seems intent to keep flogging a dead horse.

The Southland and Otago lignite comprise 85% of New Zealand’s known coal resources, so the extractive industry continues to act like a heat-seeking missile with an in-built purpose to destroy. The damp allure of brown coal has them aroused, so a new generation of geologists is being taken to have a look and smell the dank perfume of this resource.

Will anyone notice the farms? It is well known that some of the most fertile soils in Southland cover the lignite fields metres below, but in the process of digging up the lignite, much of this fertility and potential for farming production would be lost. When all the focus is on what can be dug up, will anyone notice how agriculturally productive the area is? Will they consider the stability of the community?

Climate change concerns aside, it is a peculiar wisdom that seeks to destroy fertile land to dig up a resource that we know will contribute to the destruction of our earth. Loss of farmland, the change from private to corporate ownership of the land, degradation of community, irreversible damage to soil structure, and the obvious problem of pollution are legitimate concerns.

The destruction of fertile farmland by coal interests is at the centre of a major debate in Australia’s New South Wales, where recent approval of China coal giant Shenhua’s proposal to mine the fertile Liverpool Plains caused the Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce to describe the approval as a “world gone mad.”

 AusIMM’s Code of Ethics directs them to deal with clients, colleagues and the community in a manner that upholds the principles of anti-discrimination, and of equity.   But what if it’s conservation that is being discriminated against? And what if the climate isn’t being given an equitable chance? Where does their code of ethics stand on that?

Attendees of the field trip will be provided with an overview and an update on the potential of this resource, and, of course, they are only talking about the lignite. Soil, water, air, and a vibrant community are not considered resources when dollar amounts are the subject in discussion. Organisers intend to discuss the regional geological setting and coalfields from a number of vantage points, but if all of those vantage points are in favour of mining, the outcome of the discussion is skewed.

Coal Action Murihiku wrote to AusIMM to ask for speaking rights during the field trip. They hoped to give voice to the vantage point of letting the lignite lie by exposing the downside to development. AusIMM has not responded to their request.

It would be a fine thing if AusIMM used this field trip as an opportunity to teach its members that sometimes a resource achieves its highest value by being left alone, but that is unlikely. It is also unlikely that they will point out that lignite is a low grade fuel with no legitimate place in New Zealand’s sustainable future, but they could. The evidence left by Solid Energy’s fiasco lends itself to that interpretation.

The post The Field Trip to Failure appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Coal Action Network activist at Mataura briquetting plant

16 October 2013– Coal activists are cheering today at the news that Solid Energy and GLT Ltd are mothballing the lignite briquette plant in Mataura, Southland, and said they were confident that a final decision later this month would shut it for good.

This is the final nail hammered into the coffin of Solid Energy’s grandiose plans to turn farmland into an open-cast lignite mine: a multi-billion dollar plan to use some of the world’s dirtiest coal to convert into diesel, urea, and into highly experimental “briquettes.” (see Solid Energy history, below).

“This is a great day for the climate – Southland’s coal is being kept right where it should be – in the hole, propping up beautiful, fertile farmland,” said Rosemary Penwarden of Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA).

“Meanwhile, Solid Energy has left a divided community, sponsorships abandoned, and a valley full of tenant farmers wondering what their future is going to be.  This should be a warning for any community when a big coal company comes to town, promising the earth.”

After Ravensdown walked away from the coal-to-urea project, and Fonterra confirmed it wouldn’t use the briquettes, Solid Energy’s plans were looking pretty shaky.  After Solid’s economic downfall, the company turned to its partner in the briquetting plant, GTL Energy Australia, to continue in its efforts to get the briquette plant up and running.

While GTL is still talking up the success of the briquette plant, over the course of this year, neighbours have continued to report – from their observations of the plant, and after their regular meetings with the plant manager – that the experimental technology has suffered from continued problems.   The company had even been seen returning briquettes to the New Vale mine from whence the coal had come, returning the coal to its hole.

In June, a CANA Freedom of Information request found that a similar effort by GTL to trial the technology in North Dakota had resulted in an explosion in the plant, that was then closed down. The FOI showed that Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment officials had expressed grave concerns at the fire risks in Mataura.

Last month, on 18 September, the local fire department attended a fire at the Mataura plant after dust in some ducting caught alight.

“This whole sorry mess, along with the financial instability of Solid Energy, should be a warning to the Government not to trust the promises of Big Coal.  Perhaps their eyes should be now turning to the shaky financial condition of Bathurst Resources, who want to dig up the Denniston Plateau” said Ms Penwarden.

Some of Solid Energy’s past promises

September 2009:  Solid promises 500 jobs from lignite to Urea

February 2011: Solid Energy promises lignite projects worth $1.5 billion a year 

September 2011: Briquetting plant: Solid promises 85 full time positions (now down to one, with three jobs lost this week)

The post Southland coal looks set to stay in the hole as briquette plant mothballed appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Don Elder and Bill English – back when they used to smile at each other – turning the sod for Solid Energy’s failed lignite briquetting plant

So we finally have the Government’s plan to restructure finances of the heavily indebted Solid Energy. There were only ever two main paths.

The first was liquidation, with the liquidator selling assets (mainly current mines and permits) to pay some of the debts. There are no obvious NZ buyers with the cash, so these mines would have gone to Australian, Chinese, Indian investors with the capital to buy them and expand further.

The second had to involve quite a lot of taxpayer money to enable Solid to keep trading as a State Owned Enterprise. After all, we the public own Solid Energy so we own its debts and their $389 million of debt is actually our debt, unfair as that is to those of us who have opposed their adventures all the way. When a country starts defaulting on its debts nasty things can follow.

Both paths were unpalatable, but for climate change reasons the first would have been much worse.

Reactions among the “keep the coal in the hole” fraternity have favoured outrage at the amount of taxpayers’ money involved, at the shares given to the banks (“privatisation”), and at the commitment by Solid to keep on mining. It feels good to be angry. But maybe we have missed something?

CANA is committed to phasing out coal by stopping new mines, and the expansion of existing mines, in order to protect a liveable climate.

Here we have the largest coal company in the country shrinking its operations, seriously strapped for cash. Coal prices have slumped and are unlikely to recover soon. Underground mining is uneconomic, even for high quality coking coal, hence the closure of Spring Creek and Huntly East. Annual production is down by nearly half a million tonnes: that’s over a million tonnes less carbon dioxide. The lignite stupidities are a distant memory except for one briquetting plant which doesn’t work and has been written off in the company’s books.

Solid has no cash to open any new mines for quite some time. It will continue its existing open cast operations at a lower production rate and try to recoup some of its losses. If we were to imagine the beginning of the end of coal – the start of the phase out – wouldn’t it look like this?

The bit I get angry about is that it has all been done off the backs of the miners who have been brutally dumped without warning when the price dropped. It didn’t need to be that way and we need to support those communities.

Apart from this, it appears we can pay less attention to Solid Energy for a while and focus our attention on Bathurst Resources, on divestment, and on persuading major users of coal within New Zealand to switch to renewable sources.

The post Is this what the phase-out of coal looks like? appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Coal Action Network activist at Mataura briquetting plant

According to information in an OIA about health and safety issues at the Mataura plant – recently received by CANA – the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment also has expressed concerns about the safety of the technology.

In handwritten notes an MBIE staffer noted the closure of GTL’s North Dakota plant:

“At plant in USA was an overpressure event – was when plant stopped. Dust spontaneously combusted.”

Another staffer had also written a report of their visit to the plant:

“I said I had a concern expressed to MBIE that plant has potential to explode.”

CANA has heard that two managers have already walked away from the plant citing safety concerns.

“Solid Energy has no money to pay for the at least $1.6 million required to get the lignite plant in Southland going and is right to walk away,” said Rosemary Penwarden from Coal Action Network Aotearoa. “But GTLE should also walk away.

“We don’t need our precious Southland farmland dug up to prop up experimental and unsafe technology that uses dirty lignite coal and contributes to climate change. Moreover, GTL wants to use this Southland plant so it can set up a similar plant in Indonesia. Why should we be the guinea pigs?”

Release from earlier today: 

It’s now been three days since Solid Energy said it was about to make a statement about the future of its failing lignite briquetting plant in Southland (1). Yet there has been no announcement.

This delay confirms reports Coal Action Network has been getting from on the ground at Mataura: that the plant is having all sorts of difficulties and that Solid Energy and partner GTL Energy Australia are in dispute over its future.

“There are still many hurdles to overcome before this plant produces briquettes for sale,” said Rosemary Penwarden of Coal Action Network. “While Solid Energy might be about to walk away, its partner GTL Energy’s future depends on this project going ahead.”

There appears to be a dispute between GTL Energy, which owns the still-untested technology, and Solid Energy, over who will pay out another $1.6m required for, amongst other things, a drying shed needed to dry the briquettes: somewhat of an oversight that they didn’t foresee their briquettes not standing up to Southland’s weather.

Other problems include:

• Ongoing issues with the briquettes, that first spontaneously combusted, and now are having problems drying out in the cold Southland weather. The drying shed is the latest proposal to solve these difficulties. But the product still appears to be unstable.
• Conveyor issues
• Lighting, noise and traffic issues
• The plant has breached its air quality consent with coal dust
•  It now needs a new consent to increase its water intake from the current consent of 58,000 litres a day to a massive 400,000 litres of water a day.
• The company claims the production process has passed a “five-day test” but locals, who’ve been watching closely, all dispute this. Maximum plant running time has been three days – at most.
• The facility has been dormant for six weeks.

The plant has so far cost $28m.

“Both Solid Energy and GTL must walk away from this untried and clearly failing technology. GTL are desperate to keep this going, but they are dreaming; the world’s awash with cheap coal that nobody wants. Lignite is a dead loss,” said Ms Penwarden.

She also noted that GTLE had been suffering from financial problems and there are rumours that its North Dakota briquetting plant had closed and would be sold.

“The reality on the ground in Mataura bears no resemblance to GTL Energy’s glowing reports on their website. Is GTLE deliberately misleading investors?”

“The world doesn’t need the climate emissions from this coal. Return the land to what it’s good for: fertile, productive farmland. And Southland doesn’t need any more failed projects from dodgy coal companies promising the earth and producing nothing but problems for the locals.”

Recent reports of Solid Energy announcement and discussions:

18 June, Stuff: Cloud hangs over lignite plant
18 June, Radio NZ: Solid Energy to make announcement about lignite plant
19 June, Southland Times: Decision on plant’s future delayed

The post Solid Energy appears locked in combat over who should pay for lignite plant appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

But it hasn’t gone entirely. Other companies are sniffing around Southland’s lignite report, and as a recent Southland Times report indicates, Solid Energy and their technology partner GTL Energy are continuing their efforts to get the small lignite briquetting plant off the ground.

In addition, sharemarket deadbeats Bathurst Resources, whom you’ll be hearing plenty more about this year – best known for their plans to despoil the beautiful and biodiverse Denniston Plateau in the pursuit of coal – are also seeking to expand their operations in Southland.

Every month, Coal Action Murihiku puts out a superb newsletter, edited by Jane Young who is also one of our CoalSwarm editors. You can read all the CAM newsletter on the Regions section of our website.

CAM’s April newsletter tackles both Bathurst and the briquetting plant. It’s a great read, and you can download the newsletter here.

The post Coal Action Murihiku Takes On Briquettes and Bathurst In Its April Newsletter appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Gee, that’s a surprise, Mr Prime Minister! Because here’s what you said on 3 June 2011:

“Speaking in Invercargill yesterday, Mr Key said he supported Solid Energy’s plan to dig up lignite and turn it into briquettes, saying the Government wanted companies such as Solid Energy, which is Government-owned, to expand.” (PM backs mining south’s lignite, Southland Times)

And here is a picture from the National Party’s own photo stream of John Key’s deputy, Bill English, turning the first sod for Solid Energy’s pilot lignite briquetting plant – a plant which now lies useless in the middle of the Mataura Valley:

Don Elder and Bill English: So happy together

Isn’t it nice the way Don lets Bill take the lead? Isn’t it nice the way they both smile for the camera? Isn’t it a pity how rats fight to be first to leave the sinking ship?

The post Solid Energy and the National Government: So Happy Together appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Rob McCreath from Friends of Felton at the Coal Action Summerfest gathering on Saturday.

The idea of digging up fertile farmland for lignite coal was “100% stupidity,” an Australian farmer told a Southland meeting today.

Rob McCreath was addressing the “Keep the Coal in the Hole” summer festival in Gore. The Queenslander told the 150-strong gathering how his community group, Friends of Felton, stopped a large coalmine and petrochemical plant from going ahead on prime agricultural farmland on the Darling Downs.

He has been in Dunedin and Southland for the last few days and was struck by the beauty of the farmland in the area.

“It’s hard to imagine a more productive farming area as I’ve seen in Southland. In Australia we are peppered with New Zealand’s 100% Pure adverts. It’s disgraceful that you have a government-owned company and they’re allowing it to dig up this beautiful farmland. That’s 100% stupidity,” said McCreath.

Five years ago, coal company Ambre Energy was set on digging a 2000ha opencast mine that would produce 8 million tonnes of coal a year from the Felton Valley and building a petrochemical (coal to liquids) plant there.

Friends of Felton occupied the state premier’s office, marched to parliament, erected giant billboards along roadsides, and established a local food festival as part of their successful five-year battle against the coal miners.

Just last week Ambre Energy admitted it would no longer be pursuing its mining plans in the Felton valley.

This year’s Keep the Coal in the Hole festival was organised by the Southland Coal Action Murihiku group, and had a more local focus, with many people from the local area coming to the three-day gathering.

“We face the very same threat here with the Southland lignite proposals still in Solid Energy’s sights,” said Tim Jones of Coal Action Network Aotearoa. “We can learn from our Aussie neighbours how to work together to safeguard our food producing farmland.”

The meeting also heard the latest on climate change from science writer Gareth Renowden, who told the members of the audience that anybody under 36 years old had not experienced a year below global average temperatures. The real impacts of climate change were yet to come.

“We’re hitting the climate bell with a very big hammer and it hasn’t really begun to ring yet.”

He warned that, in a climate-changed future, coal could be deemed a liability in the future, rather than the “asset” it is seen as today.

This year’s festival has been celebrating the success of the coal action movement over the last year, where a number of new groups have sprung up around the country, with a big boost in membership.

The post Southland lignite proposals “100% stupidity” Aussie farmer tells meeting appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

You can also read the transcript.

The post Questions about lignite in Parliament appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

lignite_powerpoint_Jeanette_Fitzsimons_Autumn2011

(Warning: it is a very large file, and you will need the Microsoft Powerpoint programme, or a similar open source programme like openoffice.org Impress – which you can download for free –  to open it).

The post Keep the Coal in the Hole: Why NZ’s Lignite should not be Mined (Jeanette Fitzsimons) appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

http://www.goredc.govt.nz/node/158

And, on the 7th of June, their decision to grant the consents:

http://www.goredc.govt.nz/node/175

We are still awaiting a decision from Environment Southland.

The post Gore District Council – non-notified consent for pilot briquetting plant appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.