A gold mining company shut down without notice has challenged the West Coast Regional Council to explain why it has put workers in limbo and capital at risk.
Westcoast Mining Ltd has been working an alluvial site at Kaimata in the Arnold Valley, waiting for its resource consent to be finalised.
But it was ordered by West Coast Regional Council staff who visited the site on May 30 to immediately stop all mining activities, the company’s consultant Chao Wang said.
“In good faith and to ensure compliance we have ceased all operations and stood down our workforce until further notice,” Wang wrote in a letter to the council two days later.
“This has placed significant financial strain on our business and staff.”
The shut-down was queried by goldmining councillor Allan Birchfield at last week’s regional council meeting.
“I thought the consent from the previous operator had been transferred but it still hasn’t,” he told Local Democracy Reporting.
“They were doing what we all do – bulk testing. You can process 5000 cubic metres while you wait for your consent. That’s permitted.”
The problem was that the council now took far longer than it used to in order to process mining consents, Birchfield said.
“Consents in the past used to take a few months – now they can take years. I get calls about this every week, consents being held up or not getting processed.”
The Government was urging miners to go for gold but they were being stymied by bureaucrats who didn’t understand the industry, Birchfield said.
In a letter to the council, dated June 2, Wang said Westcoast Mining has been dealing with the regional council since January 2024.
The process stalled over a mapping error last July and was further delayed in November when the council said key documents, including signed landowner forms, were missing.
“These documents had already been provided earlier in the process,” Wang said.
But the company was repeatedly assured by council staff that resource consent was close to being granted, with statements such as “we will endeavour to complete it before week’s end”, he said.
Relying on those assurances, Wang said the company had decommissioned and rehabilitated two previous mine sites and relocated all its equipment and plant to the Kaimata site in January this year.
A council officer who visited the mine in February raised no concerns about the consent, he said.
“It is now June 2025. This matter has been pending for 17 months … the shifting expectations, lack of communication and inconsistent messaging have created considerable uncertainty and operational risk for our business.”
In a second letter, dated June 6, the company asked the regional council for an urgent response.
“How can Westcoast Mining continue to operate and keep staff employed?” Wang asked.
“This [mine set-up] involved millions of dollars in capital investment, and our staff, many of whom have mortgages and families, rely on the continuity of operations for their livelihoods.”
Because the mining operation was stopped on the spot, staff had no chance to mitigate the risk of sediment escaping the site in their absence, he said.
“The company could not even take preventive measures with the rain event last week.”
Westcoast Mining has been issued with a written abatement notice stipulating all earthwork must cease, again restricting mitigation and maintenance, he said.
Wang said the extended delays in finalising the company’s resource consent were problematic and lacked transparency.
The company needed clarity on how the West Coast Regional Council would resolve the matter, he said.
LDR asked the council why the issue had dragged on for 17 months.
Acting regulatory manager Jo Field said Westcoast Mining Ltd had been “allegedly” operating without a resource consent.
The company had taken over a consent application in January 2024, she confirmed.
Since then it had taken time to resolve specific requirements such as affected party sign-offs, and amending boundaries.
“The West Coast Regional Council consents officer and the applicant have been in regular contact over this time and we acknowledge two instances where there was no progress for about three months.”
However, it was up to both the applicant and the consents officer to keep things moving, Field said.
“West Coast Regional Council works hard to complete consent applications as soon as possible. However, as consent processing demand outstrips staff capacity to process, we can’t always immediately process a consent even when an applicant has met requirements.”
By Lois Williams, Local Democracy Reporter
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air