nz mining legislsation clarification

I thought that I would clarify some points with regard to the NZ mining legislation:
For more than 20 years the New Zealand government (of both parties) has actively encouraged the development of new mines in NZ. This is demonstrated by the number of new projects that have consistently been developed in NZ over that period. This policy has been reinforced by the current National party led government (under Keys), this is demonstrated by the 2 week approval period by the relevant NZ government departments.

Regarding the environmental sensitivity of the site, its worth noting that extensive drilling has been undertaken on the site for more than 20 yeas. So the exploration site has been extensively disturbed from an environmental perspective.

The surround land is used mainly for plantation timber of radiata pine. The land is routinely clear felled (say every 15 years) and a new crop of trees are planted. Consequently there is very little natural vegetation surrounding the exploration site.

On these two counts there is very little rationale for a government (or anyone else) trying to block the development of a mine, especially if the mine was an underground, on environmental grounds.

The Sam's Creek prospect with its advanced stage of exploration, provides Mod with an excellent near term development project to fill the void between the development of the Botswana project and now.