National you are LYING about mining

Cracks appear in mining plan
The Government is facing a fight within its own ranks over plans to open conservation land to mining. It announced yesterday plans to take land in Coromandel, Great Barrier Island and parts of Paparoa National Park on the West Coast out of the protection of schedule 4 in the Crown Minerals Act. The Government will also spend $4 million looking at "highly prospective" schedule 4 land in other parts of the Coromandel and in Paparoa National Park, as well as Rakiura National Park on Stewart Island. However, Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye spoke out yesterday against proposals to allow mining on 705 hectares of Great Barrier Island. "My personal view is that when environmental and economic factors are taken into account, and given the island's status in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, mining on Great Barrier Island doesn't stack up. I'll be strongly advocating that position to my colleagues in the Government."

Two things here:

1: Well done Nikki! She won the 2008 election because the Central Auckland Green vote which went to Nandor in 2005 went to her after she argued that she would be an environmental voice within National. To date she has done bugger all to have won that green vote, but on this issue she has to say something about this outrageous attack on Conservation land. It will be very interesting to see how much freedom she will get to continue voicing an opinion other than the official line. If she is allowed to undermine the Governments assertions, Key will look weak, if she is gagged like the Government has gagged DOC then that Green vote will dump her at the next election. Rock, hard place, Nikki Kaye.

2: National are LYING about the value of supposed wealth, and note it's jumped from $140 billion to $194 Billion in the space of a week, where the hell did Gerry find another $54 billion in minerals?

As I pointed out in the weekend
The ever brilliant Gordon Campbell has sunk deep into the $140 billion claim and that it comes from mining lobbyist Richard Barker.

To date, the media has relied on an estimate of $140 billion for the minerals potentially up for grabs – a figure derived from a March 2008 paper by the Auckland consulting geologist Richard Barker.

So the man charged with trying to convince the Government to mine on conservation land has come up with a $140 billion pot of gold over the mining rainbow, how did he get that figure? Astoundingly, he calls it a ballpark figure - how big a ball park? When NZIER did the same research as Barker, they only came up with $85 Billion, Idiot Savant picks up the point on other surveys which showed even lower valuations...

Combining the two - minerals plus non-renewable energy resources - gives a total figure (for 2000) of NZ$3,683.2 million. Quite a difference from $140 billion, isn't it?

...so we have $3, 683.2 million from one valuation, $85 billion from NZIER and $140 billion from the mining lobbyist. Note: none of this takes into account that the ACTUAL amount NZers will gain will be nowhere near as high as any of these valuations, our laws are written for the Mining Industry, we get a fraction of the mineral wealth asserted to exist AND get the environmental fallout as well.

We have built a clean green brand right when the Planet is choking on its own filth, to damage that brand for mythical riches sold to us by a mining lobbyist sounds more like the mono-rail episode from the Simpsons than a wise economic decision.

NO to mining in conservation land. No if's, no buts, the promised wealth is a joke which if we fall for, will only serve to damage our international image for very little jobs and money.