Minewatch Northland
Media Release 2nd July 2012

Launching a Northland campaign: “Stop Toxic Mining in Northland!”

A coalition of community groups is launching a Northland-wide campaign to challenge the Government and industry’s move into hard rock mining in this region. This campaign is being launched in Whangarei this Thursday by Minewatch Northland.

“The public has been largely ignored by the authorities from the beginning of this new wave of mining in Northland. There has been little real information and no consultation of the community – we have been locked out!” said Minewatch Northland spokesperson Michal Lelen. The coalition notes that the authorities have driven this exploration process from the beginning with little public access to information.

Minewatch Northland is a recently established coalition of a range of community groups and individuals who are opposed specifically to toxic mining – the mining into rockbound minerals like gold, silver and copper – because of its detrimental effects on the waterways, the environment and the wellbeing of people in this region. The first steps into gold mining in Northland are underway just north of Whangarei, at Puhipuhi.

“The mining industry and Government see us as a soft touch here, more easily rode over than the communities of Coromandel. Not so!” said Minewatch Northland spokesperson Tim Howard. “In launching our campaign, Minewatch Northland is encouraging the communities and Tangata Whenua of Northland to work together to prevent toxic mining from getting a foothold in our region. We cannot afford to wait until the bulldozers are here - it’s time to move on this now.”

Minewatch Northland are launching their coalition in a public meeting on Thursday 5th July 7pm at Manaia PHO Rooms, 28 Rust Avenue. A key feature of this meeting will be to hear Catherine Delahunty - a longterm anti-mining activist from the Coromandel - who will talk about what helped the community-based campaign that stopped mining in Coromandel in the 1980s.

“In hearing from Catherine Delahunty of their experiences and successes in Coromandel, we hope to be inspired and use the learnings from their campaign and apply them here,” said Michal Lelen.

Minewatch Northland has serious concerns about the adverse effects of mining in the North. "It’s the big foreign-owned mining corporations who will be the major winners from toxic mining– not the people of Northland. Local communities will gain little, but the toxic effects will stay with us for many generations to come, after the corporations leave," says MWN member Tim Howard.

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