TOKATEA TO BE REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE FOUR!

The Tokatea has had a very eventful past. Exploited initially for timber and then converted into a fair imitation of a Swiss cheese.  The miners tunelled through it to follow the gold bearing reefs. Early pictures show the Coromandel slope totally denuded of vegetation with mining spoil spilling down the steep terrain. At this stage you would have to agree with Gerry Brownlee that, in terms of biodiversity, it was of low value. However the Tokatea has come back, if not completely. The creek bottoms are now well vegetated and home to two species of our archaic native frogs. In fact they can sometimes be found in the old mining tunnels! One of these, Archey's frog, is nationally at critical levels due to the attack of chytrid fungus and habitat loss.

The dramatic vistas we see from the Tokatea Saddle are of a volcanic terrain. Unfortunately vulcanism has also lead to the formation of gold and silver bearing quartz reefs. Some locally were of such size that they were known as bonanza reefs. The Tokatea is part of a much larger field known as the Hauraki goldfield. It extends from near Paeroa, through the entire Peninsula and over to Great Barrier Is. The other local area up for rescheduling is a coastal site within Coromandel Township known as Hauraki Hill. Most of the old gold fields are considered to be "highly prospective" with current technology. Wether it is sufficiently advanced to surgically remove three grams of gold from each tonne of rock is very much a mute point!

The Govt. is spending $4 million over the next nine months identifying other prospective mineral sites so there could be more land removed from Schedule Four protection. This, of course, would be after the public has had it's opportunity to make submissions on the issue. Time is desperately short. Submissions must be in by 5pm., Tuesday, the 4th of May, which is hardly conducive to a worthwhile debate. It is difficult to avoid the thought that this issue has already been decided. It needed an Act of Parliament to extend Shedule Four protection to D.O.C. land on our part of the Peninsula. Removing the protection is a much simpler process. Hope springs eternal however. Help will shortly be available at http://www.watchdog.org.nz/ in helping those interested to make their submission. There is good information at this site and some excellent links. Perhaps the best of these for getting up to speed is that of Forest and Bird.

BOUTIQUE GOLD MINING. THE LILLIS MINE.

Gold mining has been part of the Coromandel scene for over 150 years. Current events suggest that it might again be so in the future.

The Lillis Mine is on private land, rather than D.O.C. estate and it ceased production in the 1970's. ARGO ADVENTURES guides visits to the mine and this summer they took a party organised by M.E.G. as part of their summer programme.

Whangapoua

The Argo is an all terrain vehicle and provides an exciting ride to the top of the Whangapoua Hill. After that you are on foot and must walk down a bulldozed track for, maybe half an hour to reach the mine workings. The track is through regenerating bush, previously logged for rimu and totara. After 40years the track is much degraded, with a massive slip in one part. Negotiable by foot but too much for the intrepid Argo!

Mine entrances exist at various points. They bear the marks of excavation by pneumatic drill and all have slight upward slopes to drain them and assist with the removal of mined materials. The passage of years seems to have covered any signs of excavated spoil.

The Lillis seems to have been a fairly small scale operation. At a point below the mine workings a ramshackle structure of timber and old iron houses the machinery used to carry out the preliminary extraction of gold and silver from the ore. It would have been operated by one man. The motive power came from a diesel engine, which does still work. It seems that around a couple of wheel barrows of ore would have been processed at a time as the capacity is quite small. Ore concentrate was sent to Australia for the final refining stage.

On the return journey you retrace your steps and eventually reach the ridge and look down on Coromandel township. Along this ridge line are the plugged exploratory bore holes drilled in the early seventies. Further down the track, and quite close to town you reach other mine entrances. Should you venture here without a guide do take care.

 The entrances are unprotected and you can encounter vertical shafts just a few metres inside.

 Eventually you exit onto Lillis Lane. It is an interesting look at the recent past. Certainly a contrast to the massive mining venture at Waihi.

Coromandel town

TUATEAWA AND THE 1080 SAGA.

On the national scene, if perhaps not the local one, this issue could be coming to a close. A recent visit to two anti 1080 websites showed a distinct lack of interest. The majority of postings on one were well reasoned and in support of 1080. The other had an opinion poll that had only managed to gather eight votes. Locally the Waikato Times has decided to accept no further letters to the editor on this topic.

On the national political scene there is broad cross party support for 1080. The Animal health Board (A.H.B.), by far the biggest user has set it's sights on eradicating T.B. , primarily transmitted by possums, from the national dairy herd by 2013. Built into the R.M.A. and the regulations under which Govt. agencies and territorial authorities act is a requirement to protect our endemic wildlife and ecosystems.

Opponents have been unable to suggest any effective means of achieving these economic and environmental objectives without the use of 1080. Similarly they have been unable to prove any damage to human health, our economy or the environment arising from it's use.

Lacking any significant factual backing the anti 1080 cause has had to be promoted by alternative means. Events in Taranaki this week are an excellent illustration of an approach used nationally and also on the local scene. It would seem that two opponents placed themselves deliberately under a 1080 drop. Working on weed control for a D.O.C. subcontractor they would have been well aware of the drop. D.O.C. had run a year long campaign of education and information in the area. The employer of the men had been informed of the drop two days in advance and D.O.C. recorded the call. It was a major media coup until the press became aware of this fact.

Motivations on the Peninsula differ a little from those on the national scene. The hunting fraternity are the group most obviously disadvantaged by 1080 use. However there are no deer on the Peninsula. Pigs tend to survive a little better in our bush. Anecdotal evidence is that, with their high reproductive rate and the improved bush resulting from possum control their numbers are higher than formerly. However one cannot go past the fact that possums themselves, besides being an environmental pest are also an exploitable resource that some would like to conserve. In recent times possum/merino garments have become big ticket items on the tourist market. In 2009 a 1080 operation on the Coromandel was disrupted by the occupation of two helicopter landing sites. It is of interest that a major organiser of the disruption was also the co developer of a portable possum plucking machine.

Over the years the Coromandel has been a haven for many with views and lifestyles that are out of the mainstream. There is a fierce streak of independence coupled with a dislike of Govt. interference. One particular view appears to be a significant factor in attitudes to 1080. Bio dynamic farming and homeopathy have arisen from the work of Rudolf Steiner, better known for his endeavours in education. Followers of this approach are very unlikely to be 1080 supporters! The following is a quote relating to animal or plant pest control the bio dynamic way. " The homeopathic technique involves burning parts of a plant or animal pest, at an appropriate stage of the lunar cycle, then formulating the ash into solutions (tinctures) or mixtures with sand, the potency of which is claimed to increase with increasing dilution." By this definition a biodynamicist would consider a low concentration of 1080 much more potent than a higher one. It is the complete reverse of conventional logic. Extending this viewpoint, the burning of possum skins and mixing with quarry dust has been seriously proposed as a working alternative to other forms of possum control, both on the Coromandel and in other parts of the country. The technique is known as peppering and, again, I quote " The specific preparation methods produce the negative energy of the pests reproductive force, operating on a vibrational level, not a material one" Hmmm! Interpreting; sprinkling this material about extinguishes the possum sex drive. Strictly on the non material level of course! It would be great if it worked, but it doesn't!

It is of interest that the major anti 1080 organisation in the Coromandel did not make a submission to the E.R.M.A. enquiry. Supporting some views in open forum would be a big ask. The Upper Coromandel Landcare Association later called the process a farce. Promoting itself as an environmental organisation, it is really a single interest lobby group. It has alternative methods of achieving it's ends. Habitat Tuateawa on the other hand presented a thoughtful, well worded pro 1080 submission. These were the views that carried the day. It is to hope that they will continue to be sustained. All of those incredible gains made in our region could so easily be lost without the recourse to 1080.