PRESS RELEASE
Kiwis Against Seabed Mining today called for the government to take wannabe seabed miners Trans Tasman Resources off the fast-track list, after the company was forced to retract its claim that mining the South Taranaki Bight would bring $1 billion a year to the New Zealand economy.
TTR's parent company Manuka Resources (MKR) was this week forced to issue a retraction to the Australian Stock Exchange around the $1 billion a year claim. In the retraction issued on Tuesday, the company said "given production targets have not been derived, Manuka does not have a reasonable basis to provide this information" and advised shareholders not to rely on this number when considering investing in the company.
It has now watered down its claim to state that the project had “the ability to contribute” to the Government’s objective of doubling mineral exports to $2 billion by 2035.
“The big question now is whether this big made-up $1 billion number influenced the decision to include it on the fast-track list,” said KASM chairperson Cindy Baxter.
“Has the company told more than just its Australian investors - has it bothered to tell the government it cannot stand up this bogus claim? TTR’s firehose of falsehoods is doing the government fast-track programme no favours in its struggle for public acceptance. We call on the Prime Minister to immediately dump TTR off the fast-track list.”
She noted TTR had “an interesting relationship with the truth” - for example the company repeatedly tells New Zealanders that digging up 50 million tonnes of the seabed every year for 35 years will cause “no environmental harm.” "There is absolutely no basis for this claim: it’s simply made up, a bit like the value of the ironsands in the Bight."
KASM has twice complained to the Australian regulator about the company's misleading spin to investors. In one instance MKR claimed the Supreme Court had "ruled in favour of the project" after the court quashed the company's consent altogether, sending it back to the EPA to prove it would cause no material harm. The company has never communicated this fact to investors.
The company also told investors in April that it had been "formally invited" to apply for the fast-track list, a claim Minister Chris Bishop rejected.
"You cannot believe anything this dodgy company says. The proposed project would negatively impact a large area of the South Taranaki marine environment for decades and the purported economic benefits are unsubstantiated. That is why TTR has failed to gain consent through the prescribed processes over the last decade.”