Rehabilitation of mining sites helps to achieve the purpose 5(2c) of The
Resource Management Act 1991 - avoiding, remedying, or mitigating any adverse
effects of activities on the environment'. The environmental outcomes for recent
and current mining operations on the West Coast are variable. There are some
exemplary mining operations which are restoring or even improving land use and
environmental factors in the region, particularly those operated by the larger
mining companies. There are also examples of an exploitative mentality where the
environment and land have been severely degraded by mining activities.
Technology has been developed to prevent a repetition of the historical
destruction of the environment through mining. Failure to rehabilitate mined
land is no longer acceptable to the New Zealand public in the 1990s and damages
the credibility of the mining industry.
Examples of successful mine site rehabilitation to pastoral farming and to
production or plantation forestry are illustrated from the alluvial gold mining
industry. Planning, sequencing of operations, the utilization of sailor plant
growth materials, and aftercare are key factors in successful land
rehabilitation to these productive uses. There is also a recent focus on
restoring indigenous forests and wetlands at both coal and gold mining sites,
particularly for mines on or adjacent to the conservation estate. The results of
scientific research and efforts by the industry on techniques for rehabilitating
rainforest and pakihi wetland after mining are presented, particularly from the
Giles Creek Dunoille Coal Mine. There is a need for further research and trials
to apply and extend rehabilitation techniques to other geological and
environmental situations, particularly to mines in mountainous areas and to
difficult environments like the coal measures ecosystems of the plateaux above
Westport.