Clear and present danger
Blogger: Denis Tegg from Coromandel Watchdog
Reckless. Obscene. Outrageous.
These were just some of the first thoughts that ran though my head when I discovered that the National government is looking at opening up 2,500 hectares of conservation land for mining above Thames township.
Miniscule traces of gold lie hidden beneath the cover of bird-filled trees & ground cover, so to extract it some serious excavations are required – we’re talking explosions, rock crushing, cyanide plants, diggers, forest clearance & major roads in and out.
The trouble is – the land above Thames is a piece of fragile ground, and when there’s a downpour, chances are, it won’t just rain dainty raindrops.
Giant boulders, trees and hill-side chunks could cascade into the township. Or as a 2006 GNS Science Report warns –
In a weather bomb, a debris flow could sweep car-sized boulders weighing up to 50 tonnes, and other debris into the town without warning, at up to 50 km per hour, endangering lives and devastating homes and businesses.
Over the past 130 years Thames has experienced seven major floods and 4 debris flows. Three people died when a debris flow hit Te Aroha in 1985, and another devastated Matata in 2005
Thankfully, our chances of coming out of the next weather-bomb unscathed has been improved markedly with the work of what I like to call ‘operation flood-stop’ , or the Peninsula Project
DoC, Environment Waikato and Thames Coromandel District Council have been busy lifting bridges on state highways, doing erosion & landslip control, and replanting the ever-important forest mantle of this area. And a million-dollar barrier has been built to protect the Thames hospital from a deadly debris flow.
The taxpayer (yes, you) has forked out millions to do this – yet this good work will be jeaopardised if mining is permitted.
Mining in this area is just stupid and reckless, given that 6000 Thames people already live in danger of catastrophic floods and landslides.
And that’s not to mention the untold creatures that will be made homeless from major mining earthworks.
If you’d like to voice your opposition to mining around Thames, or mining in national parks in general, please send John Key an e-card.
