Ian McLean Spokesperson for the Green Party

Make no mistake. Gold mining is coming to a hill near you.

Here's the good news: it won't involve fracking. Fracking involves deconstruction of geological formations using water, heat and chemicals injected under pressure in order to extract oil or gas. Earthquakes and ground subsidence are a possible consequence, although our government assures us there is no problem with the fracking going on in Taranaki.

We were also reassured that there was no problem with deregulating the coastal shipping industry, the coal mining industry, and the finance company industry. Sometimes, those reassurances are less than reassuring.

Te Aroha inherited a toxic lake held behind an unstable dam, from mining. The mining company went bust. So the community inherited the problem and the taxpayer is picking up the tab: $16 million to stabilise that dam. Note: not to clean it up.

The bad news is that gold has doubled in value in the last 3 years, and this government supports and promotes exploitation of natural resources. Hawkes Bay may get fracking. East Cape may get offshore oil drilling. Te Puke will get gold mining.

Glass Earth Gold Ltd is a subsidiary of Newmont (which operates the gold mine in Waihi). They have extensive prospecting rights in the hills above Te Puke and have been working there now for several years.

The quantities of gold being found are described by Glass Earth as 'sub-economic”, but also as 'exciting” and with 'significant potential”.

What type of mining near Te Puke? There are old tunnels at Muir's Reef (on No 4 Rd) from which all the easy and accessible gold was long-since extracted. Today, open-pit with rock extraction is the most likely. While the gas issues that can be so disastrous for coal mining do not afflict gold mining, tunnelling in deep volcanic soils and complex geological formations is not recommended.

Once the gold is extracted, the rock is discarded creating potentially enormous tailings piles. The unfortunate reality for the neighbours is that those tailings also contain heavy metals and other toxins that might better have been left in the ground. Downstream effects are difficult to prevent.

The government will assure us that the economic benefits are worth the environmental costs. The main benefit is local employment, because any profits will flow elsewhere (Glass Earth Gold is registered in Canada; Newmont is an international company).

On the other hand, Te Puke is struggling at the moment because of PSA. Perhaps the local community will welcome a new employment opportunity, especially if the taxpayer goes guarantor on any future environmental costs.

The hole can be rehabilitated, as we see in the old quarry at Te Puna and at Waihi. But the tailings and toxic water present a much more difficult disposal problem. Actually, they will simply be left in place, as at Te Aroha.

Should we object to gold mining in principle? Arguably, there is already enough extracted gold in the world to support technology manufacturing (of, e.g., the latest i-pad or smart phone) for decades if not centuries, especially as 78% of gold is used to make jewellery. The TVs we are all about to throw away could be mined for significant amounts of gold and other rare metals, and should be long before we dig up more of Papatuanuku.

The world needs rare metals, but extracting a resource that is already in abundant supply at enormous environmental cost somehow just feels wrong.

Want to know more? Check out http://www.glassearthgold.com/s/Home.asp, http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml.

Ian McLean is a spokesperson for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.