Seabed mining permit area nearly quadruples

The seabed mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has successfully applied to almost quadruple the size of its mining permit, from 6600 to 24,300 hectares.
The granting of the expansion application comes after the firm abruptly pulled out of environmental hearings earlier this year, pinning all of its hopes on the upcoming fast-track consent process.
Trans-Tasman executive chairman Alan Eggers told Newsroom the company welcomed the granting of the permit, which now covers the iron sands it had previously discovered.
“The iron sands contain iron ore, vanadium and titanium that are needed in the transition to clean energy. [Trans-Tasman Resources] supports the phasing out of fossil fuels, and recognises critical minerals are needed to achieve renewable goals,” he said.
TTR applied for the expansion of its permit in 2022, which was granted in July 2024. John Buick-Constable, the national manager at the industry regulator New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals, said he approved the application because it met the tests under the Crown Minerals Act.
“This included the operator demonstrating that the proposed area contains the targeted iron sand resources, duly classified as ‘Indicated’ under a recognised international reporting code (JORC 2012), and was a reasonable proposed area in line with the resources identified,” he said.
“A minerals mining permit simply allocates the rights to the Crown-owned minerals within the area of the permit, subject to the conditions and obligations attached to the permit. Before TTR can carry out mining under its permit, it needs to secure relevant marine consents and meet the requirements of health and safety, maritime and other relevant legislation.”
He added that Resources Minister Shane Jones, a vocal supporter of the seabed mining project, “had no input into this decision”. Jones declined to comment for this article.
However, the expansion has prompted concern from other local industries, including fisheries and the nascent offshore wind sector. It is also likely to further spur opposition to the mining project from locals, including iwi.
“We are on record as having serious concerns about TTR’s previous application,” Seafood NZ CEO Lisa Futschek said, while noting the industry hadn’t yet had the chance to look in detail at the new permit application.
“We are not opposed to mining per se, but we believe the potential impacts on the fishery are not understood. For example, there wasn’t enough information provided previously by TTR to properly understand the impacts of the sediment plume.”
Futschek also referred Newsroom to the organisation’s statement from October, in which it argued that the seabed mining proposal would “result in significant and in some cases irreversible effects on habitats that may be of a particular significance for fisheries management. There is a duty to take into account the protection of these areas under the Fisheries legislation”.
Would-be offshore wind developers have also previously raised concerns about seabed mining, saying in an open letter earlier this year that the two industries were not mutually compatible.
“It doesn’t help, but I would say it changes things only a little bit from the issue that we had before. The overlap that we were seeing earlier was already enough to put us in a pretty uncertain situation as to whether offshore wind can go ahead in South Taranaki,” Giacomo Caleffi, a director at Copenhagen Offshore Partners, told Newsroom.
Turbines and transmission infrastructure will not be able to coexist in zones that are actively being mined, but even adjacent areas will face consenting difficulties because developers will be responsible for the cumulative impact on the environment of the seabed mining operation and their own facilities.
Taking into account the expanded permit, offshore wind capacity in South Taranaki has now more than halved from 2-3GW down to just 1GW, Caleffi said.
Buick-Constable said he wasn’t allowed to consider offshore wind when granting TTR’s permit application.
“The proposed offshore energy regime is not a relevant consideration under the [Crown Minerals Act] and cannot lawfully be taken into account when making decisions.”
Labour’s energy and resources spokesperson Megan Woods said this was a result of Energy Minister Simeon Brown delaying Labour’s work on offshore wind regulations.
“Of course the officials that have granted the permits had to do it within the rules. It’s the responsibility of the minister to crack on and create a regulatory regime that is enabling for offshore wind,” she said.
“We’ve seen this Government has delayed and slowed down the work that’s needed around enabling offshore wind, but has been quietly pushing ahead with undermining its viability.”