Groups Plan To Stop Minerals Forum Next Month
Church groups, students, climate activists, anti-mining
protectors and individuals from across the country have
announced they plan to stop this year's Minerals Forum in
Hamilton next month to highlight the destruction of mining,
drilling and resource extraction that is killing our planet.
They are calling on people to join
them.
“In what can only be seen as a
gathering of economic degenerates, the forum will have
speakers and representatives from gold, coal, oil and gas,
iron sand, phosphate, lithium and aggregate mining companies
as well as intensive farming companies and government
departments. These include Bathurst, Trans Tasman Resources,
OceanaGold, NZPAM, Straterra, Fonterra and more. With
examples like Bathurst applying for an extension to its coal
mine at Coalgate in Canterbury, purely to supply the dairy
industry, we can clearly see the link now between all these
extractive industries,” said Emily Bailey from Coalition
member group Climate Justice
Taranaki.
“The theme of the Minerals Forum
this year is 'Mining’s Role in a Prosperous, Low-emissions
Economy'. We think this is complete greenwash and a cynical
attempt to try and pretend their industries could be low
carbon emitters. Their linear economic models rely entirely
on take, make and waste which is highly polluting at all
stages of the process as well as increasing the gap between
rich and poor. These industries can have no role in a
low-emissions economy other than cleaning up their mess. We
want decommissioning to be the only topic for this forum,”
added Bailey.
Coalition member Cindy Baxter,
chairperson of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, said "These
companies will go to the ends of the earth to dig up
minerals, and now they want to dig up the seabed - but so
far we have managed to stop them, in coalition with Iwi,
fisheries interests and local communities. Our oceans are
already in enough peril from other pressures like
acidification and warming - there is nothing sustainable
about seabed mining."
"The main sponsor of
this conference is Bathurst Resources, which is in the
process of applying for consent to vastly increase a coal
mine in Canterbury, despite having already breached a number
of consents for its current mine. Fonterra and the dairy
industry will be burning this coal, while they continue to
claim their industry is sustainable, largely ignoring the
obvious renewable alternatives. It's time to stop digging up
fossil fuels and make the switch," said Tim Jones of
Coalition member group Coal Action Network
Aotearoa.
"We challenge the Minerals Forum
to stop wrecking the planet for profit and we challenge the
Government to live up to their promises on climate and
mining issues now! Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki is in full
support of this action. The world cannot afford high
emissions dinosaur industries and can mine landfills and
cellphones if it wants minerals. " said coalition member
Catherine Delahunty, Chair of Coromandel Watchdog of
Hauraki.
“We will be gathering in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton) at Claudelands Arena, the Forum venue, and using online media and actions to draw attention to and disrupt this two day conference,” continued Bailey. “The age of extractivism, privatization of profit, socialization of losses and using the biosphere as a dumping ground needs to end if we want circuclar economies and a decent future for our kids and all other life on this planet. We ask anyone who cares about this, to join us either outside the forum or online.”
For more
information visit the ‘STOP the Minerals Forum’ facebook
page and go here to check out more about the Minerals Forum
conference https://www.mineralsforum.co.nz/page/programme-2020.