Forest & Bird is calling on Bathurst Resources to abandon plans for a major open-cast coal mine on the Buller Plateaux, arguing the project threatens an irreplaceable ecosystem and cannot meet acceptable environmental standards.
The call follows the Environmental Protection Authority’s decision on 23 September to return Bathurst’s substantive Fast-track application for its Buller Plateaux Continuation Project as incomplete.
The latest setback follows earlier EPA scrutiny of gaps in the application, including concerns about protected species, fish passage, native land snails and the proposed management of native lizards. Forest & Bird says Bathurst’s own lizard management material anticipates salvaging fewer than one percent of lizards, despite identifying Department of Conservation best practice as salvage rates above 80 percent.
Forest & Bird Denniston spokesperson Scott Burnett says attempting to amend the application will not address what the organisation sees as the fundamental problem — that open-cast coal mining would permanently damage the distinctive ecosystems of the Denniston Plateau and Mt Frederick.
The conservation organisation wants Denniston protected as a scientific reserve, describing the plateau as a biodiversity hotspot containing rare plants, wetlands, sandstone pavement ecosystems and threatened native species. Forest & Bird has previously highlighted the nationally critical Avatar moth, which is known only from Denniston, as among the species potentially threatened by expanded mining.
Forest & Bird also says ecological material prepared for the project acknowledges some effects cannot be fully restored or mitigated. Earlier scrutiny of the application raised questions about long-term rehabilitation, financial provision for restoration and responsibility for the site after mining ends.
Bathurst’s proposal would expand coal mining across the plateau, with earlier project information indicating potentially 20 million tonnes of coal could be extracted over up to 25 years, primarily for export as coking coal.
The EPA decision is procedural rather than a final rejection of mining at Denniston, meaning Bathurst could address the deficiencies and pursue the proposal again.
But Forest & Bird says the company should instead walk away and allow one of the West Coast’s most distinctive landscapes to be permanently protected.
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