Community group turns to new avenues to protect Mountain

Community group turns to new avenues to protect their Mountain

After withdrawing from a High Court Case against New Talisman Gold Mines and Hauraki District Council yesterday Coromandel Community group Protect Karangahake is turning to new avenues to protect their Mountain.

The group’s chairperson Duncan Shearer says it is sad to be dropping the case after putting in lots of energy in to it, but new evidence has forced them to do so.

“We took New Talisman Gold Mines and the Hauraki District Council to the High Court because we needed to challenge the process that allowed a non-notified resource consent to be issued permitting the mining of Mt Karangahake.”

The group says the legal bar was set high due to several factors including the District Plan having a bias in favour of mining and because the Judicial Review was not about whether the Council correctly assessed the effects New Talisman’s mining activities will have on the mountain or the community, which Protect Karangahake says it did not, but whether the group could prove the Council failed to assess particular aspects in relation to the RMA.

“Protect Karangahake was always bigger than just a court case; we’re here for the long haul. We will continue on our mission of protecting Karangahake, but will have to look for different means to do so,” concluded the society’s chairperson Duncan Shearer.

ENDS

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