Would-be seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources has dropped its appeal against its rejected proposal to vacuum ironsands off the ocean floor far offshore in the Exclusive Economic Zone, preferring to save the legal costs and consider a fresh application to mine sands in shallow waters 26km offshore from Patea.
Kiwis Against Seabed Mining called the decision a "victory for common sense".
However, TTR's outgoing chief executive, Tim Crossley said: "We're not going away."
The company had been advised by the Environmental Protection Authority through the courts that the earliest the decision-making committee (DMC) that heard the original application could convene if it were to be reconsidered was late 2016.
That made it "highly improbable, if not impossible for the DMC to be reconvened within time frames that are considered reasonable", especially as the process would still entail a new hearing.
