I disagree with your views there. First, politically the risk of...

I disagree with your views there.

First, politically the risk of a Green/Labour shift is low. Polling shows National with the highest polling results by a long way. As per this article on 14 May 2016:

The prime minister has even been able to present himself as one of the lads on commercial radio after being thrown out of parliament. And best of all for a prime minister who cares about nothing other than re-election, private National Party polling has seen his party end the week on a respectable 46 percent, 20 points ahead of his woeful Labour rivals.

Second, the resource consent and traffic management plan relate to 20,000 cubic meters of material from the Talisman mine per annum and allow for one blast per day. I have discussed this in one of my previous threads:

To get started, within the next 6 month NTL will carry out a bulk sampling project to improve its understanding of the mine and use the ore to achieve free cash flow in order to fund full mining operations. The bulk sampling project (which is lawful and consented, below) comprises a period of removing about 50,000 tonnes (20,000 cubic metres) of metallurgical samples from the mine per annum. Multiply that by some of the indications of grade and you may be able to see why this company will not be under the radar for long.

In terms of regulatory approvals, NTL has ticked most of the boxes:

- Mining permit under the Crown Minerals Act 1991;
- Access agreements across Crown land under the Conservation Act 1987;
- Traffic management plan for the bulk sampling project approved in principle (working on adjusting some roads and paths);
- Resource consent for the bulk sampling project granted by the Hauraki District Council (resource consent is the BIG hurdle in New Zealand, this is where the local government says the project is lawful and environmentally sound under the Resource Management Act 1991).

There is no doubt that a full scale mining operation (beyond the 20,000 cubic meters/100,000 tonnes of material) will require another resource consent for a large scale operation. However by that stage the company will presumably have revenue, have firmed up its grade estimates at Talisman and Rahu, progressed work with Newcrest and be in a strong position to take the project to phase 2.

Personally I don't see supporting information in your post to uphold the notion that the Chinese have run or that an investment in NTL is a gamble.