“It is great that the restoration work has occurred, particularly the stabilisation of the tailings dump, but it is important to know that Mt Te Aroha will always be scarred by this relatively small abandoned mine and we need to learn lessons from that,” said Ms Delahunty.
“There is ongoing work at Tui. The mine will always need monitoring and the reapplication of lime to the toxic leachate from underground workings; unfortunately this contaminated site will always be a cost to citizens and ratepayers.
“It is important that we learn the lessons of Tui so that the environmental impact and cost to taxpayers of contaminated sites is eliminated.
“All mining can leave a permanent impact on the environment. We are worried that history will repeat itself if there is a mass expansion of mining coupled with weakening of environment legislation.
“One lesson from Tui is that historic gold mining on the Coromandel is still costing us and the last thing we need is any more mining of these significant areas.”
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