Te Arawa hapū want to know why the Department of Conservation is helping an Australian company prospect on conservation land.
Maria Bargh from Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara says the rūnanga has been informed Mineralogy International intends to operate on land between Rotorua and Taupo where it has a conservation protocol with DOC.
She says the rūnanga has already made clear it objected to any exploration for environmental and ecological reasons.
The move seems to be at odds with the Government's promise at the start of its term that there would be no new mines on conservation land.
"So something's certainly wrong with the whole mining application process in terms of upholding treaty obligations on the crown's side. A lot of iwi engage and are constantly ignored, so there is something wrong with that process, but here when we are thinking about conservation land, what we need to know is are there going to be new mines, or not?" Dr Bargh says.
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