Stalled
Treaty negotiations between government and Waikato iwi are hampering operations
at the Glenbrook steel mill owned by Australian listed company Bluescope
Steel. Further areas for mining were
opened up after the High Court released Bluescope from a 25 year old court
undertaking not to mine ironsand from four identified culturally sensitive
sites.
Government granted NZ
Steel, now a Bluescope subsidiary, a one hundred year licence in 1966 to mine
ironsands on the coast near Waiuku.
Under New Zealand law, the crown owns oil and mineral resources
regardless of who owns the land on which it is found. About twenty per cent of the NZ Steel licence
area is described by Ngati Te Ata as wahi tapu: sacred ground where human
remains are buried. The original mining
licence did exclude one area where there is a known burial ground. Local sensitivities were engaged in 1990 when
mining exposed parts of a human skeleton.
The High Court was
told tripartite discussions started in 1990 between government, NZ Steel and
representatives of Ngati Te Ata over how best to protect local interests. Fearing that its mining concession would be
unilaterally reduced by government, NZ Steel filed High Court proceedings to
protect its position. As a temporary
measure, NZ Steel gave a court undertaking that it would not start mining in
the affected areas until a court hearing took place. A hearing date was set for early the
following year, but no trial ever eventuated.
Instead prolonged and protracted negotiations have continued.
Evidence was given
that over the ensuing twenty-five years, various governments have faced an
ever-changing queue of claimants and an ever-changing list of demands. Initially, Ngati Te Ata indicated it would
accept mining in the wahi tapu areas, provided mining royalties were paid
direct to Ngati Te Ata rather than the crown.
Nothing eventuated after neighbouring iwi claimed customary rights over
the same land, claiming a share of any royalties. Further negotiations stalled completely in
1998 when Ngati Te Ata decided to merge its wahi tapu claim with an overall
Treaty settlement claim, stating its bottom line demand is a $170 million
settlement.
The court was told NZ
Steel has all but exhausted mining in the southern part of its licence area bar
the wahi tapu areas. It asked to be
released from the earlier court undertaking since the wahi tapu areas provide
the most economic prospects for continued mining.
The High Court
released NZ Steel from its undertaking.
The undertaking was intended to be temporary; it was never intended to
extend beyond the proposed trial date.
Justice Fogarty said ongoing arguments about royalty entitlements are a
dispute between Ngati Te Ata and government.
NZ Steel is entitled to have the 1990 litigation brought to an end, he
said. Ngati Te Ata has not seen any need
to push on with the 1990 litigation.
Instead it filed substitute court proceedings in 2013 under a different
name.
NZ
Steel v. Butcher – High Court (04.07.14)
14.031