They really are a dysfunctional bunch, the NZ First led Coalition of Losers. The left hand has no idea what the right extreme left hand is doing or saying. After fighting through the melee of rent-a-crowd idiots gluing themselves to door handles etc, Parker got into the conference and said we need to get better at mineral extraction.
The global shift to a lower carbon economy will require greater development of mineral resources and New Zealand is well-placed to show how that can be done, Economic Development Minister David Parker says.
Rapidly developing energy technologies, including solar panels and lithium-ion batteries, will require greater extraction of minerals, while new technologies will also shape how they are extracted, developed and recycled.
Parker told delegates at the New Zealand Minerals Forum in Dunedin today that this country will be better off economically pursuing that change. Not only can it save “billions” not buying oil from the Middle East, but it also has potential for the rare earths and other minerals needed in new technology.
“We know that the shift toward lower emissions will be minerals-intensive. It shouldn’t be fossil-fuels intensive, but it undoubtedly will be minerals intensive,” he said. […]
Parker thanked delegates for “running the gauntlet” to attend the conference and added that he is not among those who deny the important role fossil fuels will continue to play in the multi-decade transition that is underway. […]
Parker said natural gas would “obviously” be needed as a fuel for intermittent renewable generation for some time to come. […]
Has anyone told Ardern this startling news?
Coal still plays a small role in dry-year back-up at Huntly, but that will end in coming decades, he said.
Coal’s use for industrial heat will also have to be phased out, and he pointed to power sector expectations that Fonterra will shift from coal to electricity within the next one to two decades.
Coal may have a “slightly longer life” as a raw material for steel making and in anode production for aluminium smelting, “but technology will either replace it or require it to be offset through trees or other methods of sequestration.” […]
Scoop
The Economic Development Minister seems to understand that reality exists and mineral extraction, including natural gas and coal, can not simply be banned as the protesters demand.
Unfortunately the Land Information Minister is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Just 20 days before the “we need to develop mineral extraction” message, Eugenie Sage was telling the world that mineral extraction was ‘unsustainable’.
Expansion of gold mining at Waihi is inherently unsustainable, will increase emissions, and will provide only moderate employment benefits relative to winding down the operation and remediating the site, Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage says. […]
But the minister says that would be at odds with the government’s goal to support “thriving and sustainable” regions and the country’s transition to a carbon-neutral economy.
Part of that strategy is to encourage energy-efficient industries over energy-intensive activities like mining, she says in the just-released decision of the government to block OceanaGold’s purchase of farmland for an additional tailings dam.
“While the proposed investment will likely create short-term financial benefits in terms of jobs and servicing for the local economy, the use of the land to establish a third permanent tailings reservoir to extend the life of the Waihi mine and allow the establishment of new Project Quattro is inconsistent with sustainable economic interests,” she says.
“It is difficult for an economic benefit to be truly substantial if it is not sustainable. The nature of the proposed investment in non-renewable resource extraction is inherently unsustainable.”
Scoop
What a bunch of incompetent clowns. You could not make this stuff up, yet they roll out stuff-up after stuff-up.
