Josie Vidal: Mining is better in our own backyard than paying for others

A dump truck is dwarfed by the scale of the Macraes mine in East Otago. Photo / Peter McIntosh, Otago Daily Times, File

Opinion

OPINION

If you ride a bike or drive an electric vehicle, thank you. If you eat, cook, or keep food in the fridge, thank you.

If you use a mobile phone, laptop, computer, access medical services, play the guitar, rely on solar panels to heat your home, thank you. Like me, you all support mining, because if you look at how your stuff is made, the components come from the periodic table and they were mined.

If it wasn't grown, it was mined and almost everything you use every day, including the kitchen sink (partially made from Ni, or Nickel, 28 on the periodic table), is at your fingertips thanks to mining.

Living in New Zealand, you could be forgiven for not hearing much about that.

You get bombarded by politicians, activists, and social media slogans telling you mining is bad. This is a viewpoint, not evidence and facts.

Boiling it down, it appears those against are saying they don't want mining in New Zealand but are happy to use all the goods that are made from mining if production is out of sight and out of mind. Too bad that potentially it was children who mined that cobalt (Co, 27 on the periodic table) that keeps your battery-powered devices running, including the electric vehicle. The children that survive the high-risk mining, with their bare hands, get to sell a bag of rock for 0.75 cents or one dollar. I think they call that NIMBYism – not in my backyard.

• The case against mining in New Zealand

The truth is it is better in our backyard. New Zealand has high standards when it comes to mining. We look after people and places. We are well regulated when it comes to employment, particularly in safety-sensitive industries.

We are also highly regulated when it comes to land and water use and disrupting the environment. And we are sitting on a gold mine, literally. Gold (Au, 79) is used in electronics – including your mobile phone, high-tech health devices, aerospace, and of course jewellery and investments.

It is worth noting that mining's footprint is small, temporary (you can only mine what's there) and replaced the way it was before mining, or in an even better state. Mining companies in New Zealand invest in the communities they work in and research and resolve environmental issues. The footprint of mining on conservation land is way less than say, that of ski fields.

You will also hear about how seabed mining is bad. New Zealand is out of step on this. The world is demanding more mining, not less, to solve climate change challenges and some critical minerals sit offshore, including vanadium (V, 23). It can be used for batteries, car chassis, railway tracks, wind turbines and bridges.

New Zealand needs to be part of the solution and seize opportunities. After all, we were once known for our innovation and creativity.

Across the ditch, Australia has grasped growing global demand to fuel a low emissions future and is mining, refining, and manufacturing the products needed. Their Government is backing this with money and good policy.

Interestingly, the Cook Islands government has seen the value of seabed mining for its economy and is allowing exploration in its exclusive economic zone for the minerals in hot demand globally such as cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese, and rare earth metals.

The Republic of Nauru is also looking at what potential lies in the seabed, primarily nickel. As mentioned, in addition to the kitchen sink, nickel is used in food processing, guitar strings, coins, marine engineering and electronics, as well as electric vehicle batteries.

Electric car sales around the world continue to break records, and a recent International Energy Agency report highlights this brings with it an increase in the demand for raw materials. It suggests, "Governments must leverage private investment in sustainable mining and ensure clear and rapid permitting procedures to avoid potential supply bottlenecks".

There are so many opportunities to contribute to a better future, why wouldn't we seize them?

• Josie Vidal is the CEO of Straterra Inc, a member-based organisation that advocates for the mining and minerals sectors of New Zealand.