DOC Open To Keeping Mine Road – If Someone Else Pays

Wednesday, 28 May 2025, 8:07 pm
Article: Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter

The Conservation Department says it would be happy to leave a Reefton mining road and bridge in place – as long as someone else pays for the upkeep.

Local tour guide Paul Thomas appealed for support to retain the metal road to the old Globe goldmine when Oceana Gold finally quits the site this year.

This would allow tourists with different mobility needs to visit the Globe site, he said.

The steep winding gravel road is on conservation land in the Victoria Forest Park, south of Reefton, and was built by Oceana in 2006.

As a condition of its access with DOC, the company was required to remove the road and a bridge over the Inangahua River, as part of its multi-million-dollar restoration project.

DOC’s Greymouth Operations manager Chris Hickford says the department understands the community’s wish to retain the road, but it comes down to money.

“We’ve been in ongoing conversations with various members of the Reefton community … but DOC needs to make decisions about taking on new assets, such as roads and bridges, very carefully.”

DOC was seeking information about the likely maintenance bills before making a decision, Mr Hickford said.

There would be significant costs and DOC had to balance community aspirations with the reality of maintaining its existing assets.

“However, we are happy to consider alternative ownership and management options … and we've been in discussion with Oceana Gold and the Reefton Globe Goldfields Trust (about that),” Mr Hickford said.

The key issue was to ensure there was no additional cost to DOC, he said.

LDR understands a local contractor with a gravel license on the western bank of the river is prepared to maintain the bridge in the medium term.

Mr Hickford has also defended DOC’s work record after complaints from the Reefton community about the state of some popular walking and mountain biking tracks.

There had been extensive work completed by DOC on the Reefton visitor network recently, he said.

That included the complete restoration of Wheel Creek Hut, maintenance of the Murray Creek, Larrys Creek, Alborns and Konini tracks, and at Waiuta, Slab Hut Creek and Marble Hill,

The Inglewood mine site had also been reopened and river damage repaired, Mr Hickford said.

But mountain bikers and others have complained that two popular tramping and cycling tracks in the network - Kirwans and Lankeys - remain shut two years after the events that caused their closure.

Mr Hickford says the repairs to those tracks would not be a quick fix and required “complex engineered solutions.”

“These jobs are not a quick turnaround and solutions to reopen them depend on the stability of the sites and finding availability. We need to make careful decisions about investments and ensure they stand up over the long term.”

There were still plenty of options for Reefton visitors, ranging from easy short walls to tough multi-day tramps, mountain biking and learning about the area’s mining heritage, Mr Hickford said.

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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