(For the purposes of this article, I’m considering BT Mining, their jointly-owned subsidiary with the notorious fishing company Talleys, as part of Bathurst – despite the fact that Bathurst and Talleys are fighting in the courts.)

Having a compliant Government, and a Prime Minister who mouths all the mining industry’s talking points like the world’s most complacent sock puppet, has certainly helped Bathurst’s prospects and lessened the continuing grumbling from their investors about inadequate dividends.

The Government has included two planned Bathurst mining projects, Buller Plateaux and North Rotowaro, in the list of projects in the Fast-Track Approvals Act.

But all is not rosy in the garden. The problem for Bathurst is that, despite their and the Government’s worst efforts, Aotearoa is slowly continuing to move away from the use of thermal coal – that is, coal burned to provide heat for industrial processes and energy generation. For many years, the three biggest domestic users of coal have been Genesis Energy’s power station at Huntly; Bluescope’s New Zealand Steel plant at Glenbrook; and Fonterra’s many coal-fueled milk powder factories. But in recent years:

• Genesis has been experimenting with replacing coal with wood pellets at Huntly, and has recently announced a partnership to produce the necessary biomass – though there has also been talk of extending coal use at Huntly, so that’s a mixed bag.
• Under continuing pressure from consumers, especially in Europe, Fonterra is sticking to its programme to end all coal use at its factories by 2037. It ended its coal use in the North Island in November 2024, and is now beginning to tackle its largest South Island milk powder factories.
• New Zealand Steel is planning to commission its new electric arc furnace in late 2025 , potentially reducing a million tonnes of emissions from burning coal per annum.

While there are many smaller users of thermal coal in Aotearoa, and none of them should be let off the hook to decarbonise, such cuts by the “big three” have left the future of thermal coal mining in Aotearoa looking increasingly short-term. The Government, despite adding metallurgical coal to its critical minerals list against the advice of the consultants who drew up the draft list, left thermal coal off the recently-released critical minerals list.

So Bathurst are betting big on mining metallurgical (coking) coal, which the Government did include on the critical minerals list. This coal would not be for domestic use – confusingly, New Zealand Steel uses thermal coal, not metallurgical coal, in its current Glenbrook furnaces. It’s all about export, and Bathurst is betting that it can navigate a world increasingly breaking into geographic power blocks and find markets for coking coal. That is very bad news for a large stretch of beautifully, ecologically valuable land on the West Coast – if they’re allowed to get away with it.

I expect you’ll be hearing plenty more about Bathurst’s Buller Plateaux projects this year, so in this article I’ll focus on their other projects. What else has Bathurst got going on?

• Bathurst’s second fast-track project is the North Rotowaro coal mine near Huntly. This is near to their existing Rotowaro mine, and if it goes ahead, would result in around a million tonnes of GHG emissions per year – so it is a substantial project that we’ll be working hard to oppose with the tools available to us.
• Separately, they have started on a three-year project, called Waipuna West, to extend the existing Rotowaro mine.
• Bathurst’s Maramarua mine, also in Waikato, has an existing M1 pit and an M2 pit that they’re going to be seeking resource consent for. There is a long and distinguished history of protest against coal mining at Maramarua.
• Their other North Island facility is their corporate head office at 1 Willeston St, Wellington, just a well-fed post-lunch stroll down from delivering personally-labelled lumps of coal to the Beehive.

Turning to Te Waipounamu, besides its big investment in the Buller Plateau, Bathurst has the Takitimu mine in Southland. Takitimu is due to close in the 2027 fiscal year, and we are currently trying to establish whether, in the light of the decline in South Island thermal coal use, Bathurst is planning to go ahead with the possible nearby New Brighton mine, which Forest and Bird has taken legal action against.

Bathurst has more corporate offices in Christchurch, a large coal yard in Washdyke, Timaru which appears from aerial photos to be exposed to the open air.

The Bathurst commercial “ecosystem” is, to put it mildly, a target-rich environment for both lawyers and activists – and just in case you thought Bathurst didn’t have enough appetite for risk, they are also trying to develop two large coal mines in that latest of geopolitical hotspots, Canada.

Right now, Bathurst Resources is a bit like Gollum. They can see the ring. They wants it, precious, yes they does. But it isn’t quite in their grasp yet. It would be such a pity if a crew of Eowyns and Frodos and Aragorns were to rise up, stand against them, and send them falling into the Mount Doom of failed companies and melted corporate dreams.

– Tim Jones

The post Bathurst Resources: Poised Above The Precipice appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Our sources on the West Coast tell us that between 15 and 20 groups of potential buyers, mainly from India, have been through Solid Energy’s big Stockton mine there.

We also know that Bathurst Resources, the Australian coal mining company that fled Australia and set up in New Zealand, and which has managed to make a fearful mess of the unique and biodiverse Denniston Plateau in the course of a largely failed attempt to extract coal from it at an economic price, is trying to buy Stockton.

Work on the Denniston Plateau has now stopped – but the destruction wrought by Bathurst Resources remains.

Republic Investment Management of Singapore recently bought a 20% stake in Bathurst Resources, and they are seeking to acquire more, possibly with a view to taking a controlling interest. This has allowed Bathurst to raise funds in relation to “an impending NZ coal opportunity”, which we believe may be the attempted purchase of Stockton and other coal deposits which Solid Energy has the rights to but has not attempted to mine.

As the industry mouthpiece NZ Resources notes (24 June 2016), “for coal in NZ this is fire sale season”.

On one level, that’s a good sign: it reflects the parlous state of the coal industry both domestically and internationally, and the growing acknowledgment that King Coal, bruised and weakened but still dangerous, must be prised off his throne.

But fire sale season carries a high risk: with the backing of their mystery overseas investors, Bathurst – or one of the companies that has toured Stockton – might be able to take advantage of those fire sale prices to sweep up a bundle of former Solid Energy assets and bundle them with its own resources, such as the nearby Denniston mine.

Bundling Stockton, Happy Valley (adjacent and now being mined), the Escarpment mine on Denniston, and the proposed Te Kuha would create an asset large enough to interest a big overseas miner. Then, taking a cavalier approach to the environment and worker safety alike (as the record shows occurs in India), they might seek to claw what coal they can from the ground while there is still a buck to be made.

Whereas the coal industry in China has been in decline in recent years, in India , coal is still trying to expand. If we are not vigilant, we might end up with a future in which Indian steel mills and cut-rate New Zealand milk powder plants alike are supplied by coal made cheap enough to mine by Solid Energy’s past recklessness and the Government’s continued avoidance of real action on climate change.

This story has been hiding away in the shadows. It’s time for it to be brought into the light.

The post What’s Going On At Stockton? appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Energy and Resources Simon Bridges with the Indian steel delegation in his office in January

Statements made in Indian media by Indian Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma after he met with Energy Minister Simon Bridges on 30 January indicate a clear expectation of some kind of deal between the two Governments on coal, said the Coal Action Network Aotearoa today.

“We are looking forward to the Government of New Zealand for allocating mineral assets to Indian public sector companies on a Government to Government basis,” said the Minister in an official press statement after the meeting with Bridges.

Today in the House Steven Joyce, on behalf of Simon Bridges, denied that any promises had been given, but refused to rule out sales of coal mines to the Indians.

The “asset” likely to be of most interest to the Indian steel industry would be Solid Energy’s Cypress mine at Happy Valley on the West Coast, where the company has now begun work to remove the “overburden” of the West Coast habitat that has lain idle for several years.

Solid Energy also owns permits for seven other, as yet undeveloped coal mines, four of which contain the coking coal for steel the Indian Government delegation was after.

“The last thing NZ needs, in this era of impending climate change, is a powerful overseas company with an insatiable appetite for coal, entering our country. It would clearly not stop at just one mine,” said Coal Action Network spokesperson Jeanette Fitzsimons.

“Coal Action Network is opposed to any new mines opening in New Zealand, and wants to see a gradual phase out of coal mining as the mines deplete and the miners retire”.

“New Zealand has a wealth of opportunities to invest in clean energy that will not change the climate or damage workers’ health. That should be our priority,” she said.

More than 80% of India’s coal is produced by state-owned Coal India (or its subsidiaries), which has a reputation for breaking environmental regulations – the reason the company’s growthdropped to two percent in 2010.   342 mine deaths were recorded in the four years to 2012 in mines operated by Indian Government-owned coal companies.

The Pike River mine was partly owned by Indian coal companies, who had four representatives on its board. 

“Given the Indian coal industry’s terrible environmental and safety record – would you trust them to operate safely in New Zealand’s environment?” asked Ms Fitzsimons.

The post What agreement did the Government make with Indian coal interests? appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Stockton Mine on the West Coast, Photo: Peter Lusk

As regular readers of this blog will know, Forest & Bird and the West Coast Environment Network have been fighting an epic legal battle to prevent Bathurst Resources getting its rapacious mitts on the Denniston Plateau. Bathurst wants to rip apart this beautiful and biodiverse part of the West Coast and turn it into an open cast coalmine – pretty much like Solid Energy’s Stockton coalmine, shown here. That would be a disaster for New Zealand wildlife – and for the climate.

I have been deeply impressed by the range and depth of the legal actions Forest and Bird and WCENT have come up with – but I’ve got to admit, I’ve also become more than a little confused at times about what appeals are being heard where. Now there’s no more need to be confused, because Debs Martin, Forest & Bird’s Top of the South Field Officer, has written a wonderful article for A Voice for Nature, the South Otago Forest & Bird Newsletter, explaining exactly where things are at with the legal process. You can download this excellent newsletter and get your head around the legal process from the South Otago Forest & Bird website.

But that’s not the only place you can learn about Denniston. As well as articles on the CANA blog, there’s another Denniston article in the June issue of the Coal Action Murihiku newsletter – the editorial hand of Jane Young is what these excellent publications have in common!

Finally, for comprehensive coverage, check out the Bathurst Resources section of the Coal Swarm wiki.

The post Confused About The Denniston Legal Cases? Now You Don’t Have To Be appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Martha’s Mine

My aunt Martha has lived here twenty
years now. They brought her here with
empty promises; now life goes on bitter
and ugly, a web of shattered dreams and sadness

They’ve never taken away her rubbish –
now twenty years of sludge sit in her
backyard. Not profitable yet, she tells me
as she watches the sludge shipping index to China

It’s time to move on, she says. She
used to have a good home, a sturdy
four bedroom white painted weatherboard place,
’till Papa got too hungry and gobbled it up

She’s on the benefit and her six
kids have never had jobs. The employment
situation here is the pits and her husband
died long ago of respiratory failure

With a glint of hope in her eye she tells
me the kids are headed north, there are
promises of work there, the nation is
creating jobs for hard working Neu Zulunders.

Next year I visit them in Northland. The
birds have stopped singing and the rivers
run with poison. I see them sitting in their rigs
with eyes of shattered dreams and sadness

For a visual artist’s close-up view of coal mining, check out Meliors Simms’ account of her recent visit to Stockton Mine: http://meliors.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/open-cut-warning-lots-of-photos-of.html

The post Martha’s Mine appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.