The charming of Waihi - A lesson in community relations

Newmont has developed a new model for mine rehabilitation that involves the local community as it shuts down its 20-year-old Martha opencast mining operation in Waihi and explores further opportunities that could have it based in the region for some time.   BY ALAN TITCHALL.

With the closing down of Martha and start of underground extraction from the nearby Favona (with an expected life span of between six and 10 years), Newmont Mining Corporation has been drilling fervently around the town looking for new vein extensions.

With its eyes on the future, Newmont has spent considerable resources on building favour with the Waihi community of around 5000 residents and mentoring the township towards a future and economy more dependant on its mining heritage and tourism, than on mineral extraction.

Some of this community concern is obligatory of course – part of the original mining licence consent. With the pit so close to the township, public relations have always been on tender hooks and there was the two subsidence incidents in 1999 and 2001, both resulting in loss of homes.

The rest is sheer goodwill as the mining company evaluates its future investment in Waihi and even New Zealand, says Mark Samson, Newmont sustainability manager.  Samson, whose family has been part of the Waihi mining community for five generations, is responsible for the rehabilitation of the Martha site, including the new pumphouse surrounds.   

One of the first steps in the ‘community’ rehabilitation of Martha involved moving the historic 2000 tonne concrete Cornish pumphouse from its precarious location on the eastern edge of the pit to safer ground at a cost of $4 million. It took three months to move it 300 metres to a new location over looking the main street. Lit up at night as a monument and opened to the public during the day, it has already become a major visitor attraction for the town.

Built in 1904 and one of only two examples in the country, the pumphouse had to be preserved under consent conditions but Samson says the company has gone the extra mile in relocating it.

“It is no accident the pumphouse can now be seen from most roads around the town. It’s now part of the town’s mining heritage that spans three centuries.”

Newmont’s rehabilitation partnership evolved from a public meeting in Waihi in May 2003 and setting up of the Waihi Community Consultation Committee (WCCC), made up of 23 locals representing a diverse array of community interests, even anti mining.

After two years of consultation facilitated by the company, the group came up with ‘Vision 2020’ – a map of ideas and projects that will be partially funded by Newmont and partially self-funded from various sources. It is driven by the Vision Waihi Trust made up of a representative from the mining company, the Hauraki District Council and the community. Eddie Morrow, ex Coromandel Tourism, was employed as its chief executive.

Under its closure consent conditions, Martha will be filled with water to form Lake Pukewa. It would take 20 years for the pit to fill using a natural source of water however, consent has been given to use flood flows from the Ohinemuri River, reducing this time to seven or even five years.

Then, depending on who you talk to, the pit might also be left as a gaping hole to amuse the tourists and provide the site for the world’s first bungy to extend below sea level (Waihi township is about 90 metres above sea level and the pit 250 metres deep). The future lake edge and walkway around the upper lip of the pit is already ringed with stones. Adjacent areas will be developed to form a park and the surfaces of the tailings storage facilities rehabilitated to form a combination of wetlands, ponds and grassed areas. An impressive visitor attraction called the Gold Discovery Centre is designed to sit on eastern edge of the pit behind the pumphouse, with a vertigo-provoking glass walk-out extending out over the 225 metre-deep void, or lake. 

The man ultimately in charge of the closure is Newmont Waihi general manager Glen Grindlay.

“In the 1970s the multi-internationals were criticised for going into a country, providing sustenance and a different way of life for a few years and then leaving the locals with nothing. This is something we are very conscious of – even if we leave here we still have our reputation and we are keen to ‘do the right thing’.”

Newmont is spending around $11 million in exploration costs and will need the community’s blessing to stay in business in Waihi, he adds.

Old chimney caves and other historical workings under the eastern side of the pit are unstable – the reason the pump house had to be removed and why the slope still needs quarrying back, says Grindlay. He happily admits there’s profitable gold to extract from this work.

“I can understand how people on the outside would be trying to conjecture which came first [rehabilitation or gold] and everyone is entitled to their opinion. We had to move the pumphouse to protect it and the slope needs cutting back to honour our licensing consent which requires ‘stable walls in perpetuity’.”

Involving the Waihi community in the closure plans has not been difficult, says Grindlay, and only involves slight changes.

“For instance we could demolish the mill and leave nothing but grass, but the feeling is – leave a few structures for interest. We can totally cap the tailings stamps and have them dry while others are saying leave them open and have wetlands in there. There’s so many options we can take and still comply with consent.”

 Newmont has budgeted $20 million on top of its consent bonds for the closure of Martha and many community projects are expected to be funded through other sources.

“If you can get private money to fund and run these visitor attractions they will continue long after we have gone.”

The closure will also be progressive to give Waihi conference that Newmont “will do what it says it will do”, he says.

“It’s all about reputation – leaving a good legacy and becoming the mining company of choice. We want people to come and tap us on the shoulder and say – ‘hey, come and mine our mineral deposits’.”