I climbed a mountain and I turned around..

(Marsha mine, the open pit gold and silver mine in Waihi)

Today we saddled up in the vans and headed south east of Ecoquest Headquarters to Waihi. This town is well known for its gold mining industry, and today we planned on taking a tour of the gold mine. For some reason, I was under the impression that Waihi was a former gold mining town, and it attracted tourists by interesting them in the historic aspects of the industry. I was unaware that there is currently large-scale open-pit mining in the town.

We arrived in Waihi a little bit early, so we had a debriefing of the day on a hill by an historic Cornish pump house. Just before we left to go to the tour headquarters, a few of us ran up the hill to look at the view. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a gigantic open pit of which I could not even see the bottom. I had never seen open-pit mining in person before, and it reminded me of pictures of coalmines in Appalachia that I have seen on the Internet. It was mind boggling to think that people casually driving through Waihi would never realize that this gold mine even existed. The majority of people probably imagined an underground mine with a modest and unassuming opening, but what we encountered was the exact opposite.

(The walls covered in native vegetation)

The tour itself was incredibly educational and was a bit of an information overload at times. I tried to keep an open mind, because coming from an environmental science background, it is natural for me to automatically jump to the conclusion that MINING IS BAD. The Waihi contains two mines; one is an open pit mine called Martha and the other is a deep underground mine called Favona. Newmont Mining Corporation, an American company based out of Denver, Colorado, is in charge of all of the mining. Mining of Martha began in 1988. At present it is 260 meters deep, 600 meters wide, and 860 meters long. The rock needs to be separated between waste rock and rock from which gold and silver can be extracted. On average, only 1 ounce of gold can be extracted for every 10 tonnes of rock. Although this seems extremely uneconomical, the mine apparently produces $1.5 million in revenues a week from the extraction of silver and gold. The mining industry in Waihi employs about 750 people, 350 of which are full time equivalent employees. At present, the Martha mine will be closed in about 4 years and the pit will be filled with water, a process which will take approximately 5 years.

The next part of the tour involved a bus drive a few kilometers down the road to an area where the waste rock and tailings are deposited. The waste rock is transported to this site by a gigantic conveyor belt that can transfer thousands of tons of rock a day. The waste rock creates an embankment that surrounds the tailings, which are a waste product of the gold mining. The tailings are composed for water, ground rock, and cyanide. The cyanide is supposed to naturally break down when exposed to UV radiation so it does not create an environmental problem. The current plan is to convert the pond of tailings into a man-made wetland, which is feasible when you consider that many birds already gather there.

(The walk through the gorge)

The last part of the tour involved a presentation back at the main building/museum. We learned some more facts about the mine and we touched on a little bit of the Resource Management Act and how it applies to mining. The presentation was very biased and in support of gold mining, and we could sense the discomfort of the lecturer. I couldn’t really blame him, considering that he was speaking to a room full of skeptical environmentalists. However, when he started to talk about how gold mining is a sustainable industry that really got me going. I appreciate their efforts to attempt and rehabilitate the land after they are done with it, but I also realize that the only reason that the Newmont Mining Corporation is even doing this is because they are mining in an area with strict regulations and pressure from residents. In the question and answer session afterwards, I asked the speaker if Newmont Mining Corporation takes similar initiatives in the developing countries that they exploit. Instead of answering my question directly, he replied that these mines are usually “in the middle of nowhere” and that the people of these lands “are simply happy to have a job.” So I’m guessing the answer is no. Other people also posed some interesting questions, such as what the speaker thought about the importance of gold on the global market compared to other non-renewable resources such as coal and oil. Although I disagreed with most of the things that the speaker said, it was good to fuel the fire and get me going for the debate that we are going to have in class tomorrow.

On the drive home, we made a stop in the Karangahake Reserve in the Karangahake Gorge. This was the site of an old mine that is now abandoned, the ruins of which are still around for educational purposes. We did a little hike that crossed over various suspension bridges, followed old cart tracks, and weaved in and out of tunnels. At some points on the track, it felt like we were in a tropical rainforest exploring ruins of an ancient empire. All of the old foundations were covered in native vegetation, with all kinds of plants emerging out of cracks and crevices and vines covering entire walls. The most exciting part was a walk through one of the mining tunnels on the “windows” track. We formed a line and held hands as we walked along because it was literally pitch black and we couldn’t see a thing. Sally halted us at one point and told us to just stand still and be quiet for a moment to listen and observe. I looked up and could see tons of glowworms on the ceiling that illuminated the space like stars in the night sky! It was incredible. The only noise you could hear was the echo from the river down below. It was a great way to end an otherwise emotionally frustrating day.