Police spent about $22,000 roping in 50 officers to protect a mining forum that did not attract a single protester.
Police came from around the South Island to Shantytown outside Greymouth in mid-April for a national mining forum amid fears of violent protests from anti-mining environmentalists, the Greymouth Star reports.
In Dunedin two years ago, more than 100 protesters clashed with police outside the Minerals Forum at the city's Town Hall, blocking dozens of delegates from entering.
But the Greymouth Star says the West Coast event was such a well-kept secret that "not a single protester arrived".