The Decision-making Committee appointed by the Environmental Protection Authority to consider an application by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine ironsand off the Taranaki Bight has announced an extension to its deliberations.
The committee, which began its consideration of the application following the formal closure of the hearing on May 31, will now deliver its decision to the EPA on July 27, 2017.
This is all set down in Minute 47 from the Decision-making Committee.
Siobhan Quayle , general manager of the EPA’s EEZ Applications team explained: “The Decision-making Committee has the power to extend timeframes, in accordance with Section 159 of the EEZ Act.
“The committee is of the view that an extension of time to ensure it is possible to consider all the information presented at the hearing and prepare a fully reasoned decision is in the best interests of all persons directly affected by the extension, and the community.”
Once the decision has been made, it will be delivered to the EPA, prepared for publication and publicly released as soon as practicable after that.
TTR’s initial proposed extraction site is more than 22km offshore. The project area is a 65.76km2 area of the South Taranaki Bight of which TTR plans to extract iron sand from 5km2 of this initial project area each year.