May 27, 2024
Jones calls for minerals’ plan
Resources minister Shane Jones says rare earth minerals will be critical to New Zealand’s economic future.
He has released a draft minerals sector strategy including clearing away what he calls regulatory red tape and clarifying where mining can occur.
While the most sensitive conservation land is off the table, he supports sustainable and environmentally approved mining on stewardship land and other categories of DOC land.
He says New Zealand is now importing minerals for its current needs from places with lower environmental and employment standards.
“It’s a harsh reality. We’ve got to keep fuelling ourselves on a day by day basis as we wait for investors and technologists and scientists to generate new solutions as to how our quality of life is to be improved. I’m living in the here and now and I’ll be judged on what I do today, tomorrow until 2026 and I am going to back mining,” Mr Jones says.
He wants to see mining making a positive difference to iwi and hapū across the country, enabling better access to cultural minerals, creating more jobs and ensuring long-term benefits flow to communities.