Crown Minerals Act 1991

The Crown Minerals Act is an Act of Parliament passed in 1991 in New Zealand. It controls the management of Crown owed minerals. Potential changes to Schedule 4 of the Act created controversy and opposition in 2010. The definition of minerals under the Act is very broad - it includes gravel, industrial rocks, building stone, coal and petroleum.

Crown Minerals Act 1991
New Zealand Parliament
Commenced1 October 1991
Administered byMinistry of Economic Development
(formerly the Ministry of Commerce)
Status: Current legislation

All gold, silver, uranium and petroleum is under Crown ownership as well as any other minerals that are on Crown owned land.[1]

Schedule 4 Review

In 2009 the National-led government announced that it would review Schedule 4 of the Act, a list of conservation areas for which access for mining cannot be granted by the Minister of Conservation. The proposal was condemned by critics not only because of the potential environmental impacts, but also because of the associated effects that were feared for the tourism industry.[2]

Major NGOs such as Federated Mountain Clubs[3] and Forest and Bird came out in opposition to the plans.

In March 2010 the government requested public feedback on a discussion document on the removal of 7000 ha of land from Schedule 4.[4] There was a record 37,500 submissions on the document. A protest March Against Mining was organised by Greenpeace NZ on 1 May in Auckland [5] and it attracted an estimated 40,000 people.[6]

On 20 July 2010 the Government announced that in response to receiving 37,552 submissions, the vast majority of which opposed mining, it will not remove any land from Schedule 4.[7][8]

Proposed amendments

In April 2013 a group of well-known New Zealanders including actress Lucy Lawless, Geoffrey Palmer and Anne Salmond, as well as Greenpeace and Forest & Bird, said proposed amendments by the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill suggested by Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges were "a sledgehammer designed to attack peaceful protest at sea".[9] This Bill was passed as the Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2013.

See also

References
  1. A guide to the Crown Minerals Act 1991. NZ: Ministry of Commerce. January 1992. ISBN 0-478-00489-3.
  2. Robyn Malcolm (24 March 2010). "NZ image about to be gutted 'surgically'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  3. FMC Bulletin (PDF), Federated Mountain Clubs, November 2009, ISSN 0110-6120, archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2010, retrieved 9 August 2010
  4. "Schedule 4 stocktake". Ministry of Economic Development. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  5. "March Against Mining". Greenpeace NZ. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  6. "Thousands march in protest against mining". Radio New Zealand. 1 May 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  7. "No land to be removed from Schedule 4" (Press release). New Zealand Government. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  8. "Outcome of Schedule 4 stocktake process". Ministry of Economic Development. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  9. "Prominent NZers fight sea protest ban". 3 News NZ. 9 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2013.

Further reading
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