Resources Minister Shane Jones wants to double mining exports by 2035, claiming it will let the country reach three billion dollars in mineral exports by 2035.
It comes as Coal and gold have been added to the critical minerals list in New Zealand in the hopes we can double our mineral exports in a decade.
The proposal is bringing in questions of sustainability, while also positive projections for jobs.
OceanaGold Senior Vice President Alison Paul joins the show.
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Coal and gold have been added to the critical minerals list in this country and the hopes we can double our mineral exports in a decade. The energy resources mister Shane Jones once again came at the banks as he announced this today. Who are debanking fossil fuel companies? I'm not going to stand for one more minute of that won't riddled intimidation. Allison Paul is the senior vice president at mining company Oceania Gold and she's with me the Sevening. Hi Allison, Hi, Ryan, Does this speech change anything for you?
It was good to hear gold included in the critical minerals list. It makes a lot of sense. It actually doesn't change what we do day to day. We've been mining here for thirty four years and we think we already deliver what the strategy is looking to do, which is billions of exports, lots of jobs, and a lot of expenditure into our region. So we think we can deliver that, and it's talking about doing that responsibly and sustainably, and that is part of who we are. That doesn't change at all.
What's stopping you from going faster.
Mining is a business that involves a lot of preparation. You have to explore for the gold in our case and firm up your case for mining it, and you have to get the permits and approvals to do that. So certainly the government's Fast Track Approvals Act is going to be for us potentially a game changer in the as much as anything the one stop shop approach, So the fact that you can bring your case before a single approvals process, that is going to be hopefully something that speeds up what we're able to do and sees us getting started on some of these projects imminently.
And that's our aim, and that will mean hundreds of extra jobs. Right are they full time jobs? And how long jobs last?
So at the moment, if we look at why He North project, at why He where this strategy was launched today, we employ over three hundred people already and that's mostly direct employees and some contractors. So the addition of the why He North project, which we're looking to put through fast tracked later this year, is going to bring hundreds of new development jobs. Ultimately those will turn into more mining jobs, and that's in the order of another three hundred or so mining jobs. So it does bring extra employment as well as strengthening the existing operation at y.
Head, right, So three hundred mining jobs plus of a couple of hundred development jobs, and we're talking about I mean, this is real cash for why he isn't it Real cash for the region and real cash for the country.
Absolutely. Yeah, it's going to be over three billion dollars worth of expenditure over the course of the minment we're planning and half billion and just the capital that we're going to invest in the first years.
Have you guys had any problems with your banks, Allison.
No, we haven't.
That's that's the bigger oil. Thank you. Nice to talk. That's Allison Paul, Senior vice president Legal and public Affairs from Oceania Gold. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.