Download (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill - Thames

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Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill
TO
Thames-Coromandel District Council
FROM
Katina Conomos - Strategic Planning Team Leader
DATE
25 October 2012
SUBJECT
Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill
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Purpose of Report
The purpose of this report is to inform the Council of the Crown Minerals (Permitting and
Crown Land) Bill ("the Bill") currently open for submissions, and to seek retrospective
Council approval of a submission to that Bill, due to the timing. The approach of the
submission is to advise Government of the different positions in the Coromandel, and the
temptation for any extension of powers to Ministers for 'call-in' decisions must be tempered
by community views and the ways they will express these irrespective of the decisionmaker.
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Background
On the 26 September, the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill was introduced
to Parliament. Submissions close on 2 November 2012.
As there has been no Council meeting during this period, staff have prepared a submission
to be approved by the Chief Executive, and submitted by the submission close date, but
with a note indicating that this is subject to Council approval.
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Issue
The rationale for the Bill is centred around promoting economic benefit to NZ through the
exploitation of its natural resources. The explanatory note to the Bill refers to the "business
growth agenda to support New Zealand businesses to grow, in order to create jobs and
improve standard of living" and that "natural resources are a key component of this agenda,
with a key focus being a review of the regulatory regime for Crown owned minerals."
The review looks at how the government allocates exploration and production rights, the
management and oversight of exploration and production processes, and how the Crown
(on behalf of New Zealanders) shares in the benefits of exploration successes.
This review is one part of the work the government is undertaking to ensure New Zealand
has a world-leading system for managing mineral and petroleum exploration and production
that balances the economic benefits with safety and environmental concerns.
The Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill will eventually be split into five Bills,
amending the following pieces of legislation.
 Crown Minerals Act 1991
 Conservation Act 1987
 Continental Shelf Act 1964
 Reserves Act 1977
 Wildlife Act 1953
The majority of the amendments pertain to the Crown Minerals Act 1991.
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Discussion
The Bill proposes substantial changes to the Crown Minerals Act 1991 and the following
outlines the major changes that staff have identified as the areas of interest for ThamesCoromandel District Council.
The Bill introduces a new purpose, as follows:
The purpose of this Act is to promote prospecting for, exploration for , and mining of Crown
owned minerals for the benefit of New Zealand, by providing for –
a. The efficient allocation of rights to prospect for, explore for, and mine Crown owned
minerals; and
b. The effective management and regulation of the exercise of those rights; and
c. A fair financial return to the Crown for its minerals.
This change in purpose indicates a stronger focus by the Government on promoting
economic benefit to NZ through the exploitation of its natural resources.
To achieve this purpose, the main amendments proposed by the Bill are:
Prospecting Permits
The Bill introduces a 2-tiered system for permit management, and streamlines the
application regime for relatively low-level, low-risk mining such as small business and hobby
mineral operations or for minerals such as industrial rocks (Tier Two). On the other end of
the spectrum, complex, higher-return mineral and petroleum activities will be subject to
more stringent controls (Tier One).
Permit Durations
The Bill makes substantial changes to durations of prospecting and exploration permits, as
follows:
 prospecting permits 4 years (previously 2)
 Exploration for petroleum permit 15 years (previously 5 years)
 Exploration for non-petroleum minerals 10 years (previously 5 years)
 Mining permits remain at 40 years
Powers of the Ministers & Chief Executive
The Minister of Energy and Resources and the Chief Executive of the Ministerial
Department will have a new mandate to "attract tenders for permit applications and promote
investment".
Additional powers to the Chef Executive include the function to "monitor compliance with
permits, the Crown Minerals Act 1991 and the regulations". Essentially this is making the
monitoring of permits more flexible, by empowering the Chief Executive of the Ministerial
Department with the ability to determine the form of monitoring that is most appropriate.
The Minister of Energy and Resources will have the power to amend the conditions of a
permit and extend the minerals or land area to which a permit relates.
Despite these proposed changes, the Council should note that the protection provided
under the Resources Management Act still exists and there are no amendments proposed
to the RMA.
As Council is aware, Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act lists conservation land that may
not be accessed for mining. The Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister of
Conservation will now have joint responsibility for making access arrangement decisions on
all other conservation land and economic considerations are introduced into the decision-
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making criteria for granting access.
These two Ministers will have also joint responsibility for deciding whether or not decisions
on mining on Department of Conservation land should go to public consultation – this will be
where the mining activities involved are "significant" as determined in accordance with the
criteria in the new section 61C.
Royalties regime
The Bill introduces a new section on royalties. Amongst other things, it sets out how the
royalties will be calculated. At present the royalties received are all consumed within the
consolidated fund. The Government argues that the funds are required to assisting with
the funding of the nation's infrastructure.
Local Government New Zealand have been promoting that the relevant council should be
granted with a share of the royalties to support its local infrastructure, which is used to
enable economic development. Further, they argue that the relevant regional council
should also receive a share given their jurisdiction for environmental management.
Schedule 4
Schedule 4 is replaced in its entirety with a new Schedule 4. Minor formatting and tidy
adjustments are made to Schedule 4. These changes are inconsequential and do not
change the interpretation of the current Bill. No land is removed from Schedule 4 as a
result of this change and the current protection remains.
Community Views
The Council will already be aware that countering a supportive stance by many in the
community on the historic mining heritage of the Coromandel, is also a strong ‘anti-mining’
sentiment. These sentiments have been evident for at least the last 30 years and it is
unlikely that anti-mining views will be easily satisfied by the changes in this Bill.
The Council itself has talked about the need for diversity in economic development that is
‘appropriate’ to the sensitive Coromandel environment. The Council recognises its role in
the future stewardship of the uniqueness of Coromandel's environment, and the linkage
between its tourism industry and the quality of the environment.
Given the known polarised views of the communities of the Coromandel, staff have
prepared a submission that notes these differing community views, and notes the value of
the Coromandel Peninsula's natural environment to its communities and to the economic
activity on the Peninsula, such as tourism.
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Suggested Resolution(s)
That the Thames-Coromandel District Council:
1.
Receives the report.
Retrospectively approves the submission to the Crown Minerals (Permitting and
Crown Land) Bill
References-Tabled/Agenda Attachments
Attachment A
30 October 2012 - Crown Minerals Bill Submission
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Attachment A
Attachment A - 30 October 2012 - Crown Minerals Bill Submission