The push to stop proposed mining at Denniston Plateau and Te Waikoropupū Springs took centre stage at a public meeting in Nelson on Sunday, with speakers urging the community to use remaining legal avenues before Fast Track legislation changes come into force at the end of March.
About 50 people attended the gathering at Victory Community Centre, where Forest and Bird’s Scott Burnett outlined the irreplaceable natural features of the Denniston Plateau near Westport he fears would be destroyed if a new coal mine is approved.
Scott spoke of joining a group of scientists on the plateau recently, spending two days documenting an area targeted for mining. He says much of the landscape remains largely unknown and almost untouched. A similar bio-blitz in 2012 led to the discovery of the avatar moth, a species unique to Denniston that was voted New Zealand’s 2026 Bug of the Year. The orange-yellow and earth-coloured moth’s habitat is at risk under Bathurst Resources' proposal to extend its open cast operation across a further 1250 hectares, an area roughly the size of 1700 rugby fields and double the footprint of Nelson’s CBD.
Save our Springs advocate Kevin Moran shared poetry to highlight what he described as the spiritual and ecological significance of Te Waikoropupū Springs in Golden Bay. He spoke of the years of effort behind the water conservation order approved in 2023, which protects the clarity and health of the springs. He warned that protection is now under threat should Siren Gold be granted resource consents for a gold mine at Sam’s Creek in Upper Tākaka.
Kevin says scientists believe arsenic leaching from tailings left after gold extraction is inevitable and would cause irreversible damage to the Tākaka River and surrounding waterways.
The meeting ended on a note of determined optimism, with Kevin’s words and Scott’s encouragement for continued resistance. Both groups – Forest and Bird and Save our Springs – intend to challenge restrictions on public participation in Fast Track approvals, an issue likely to feature prominently in the coming election.
