‘Significant progress’ on Reefton retaining Globe Progress access

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:

There has been "significant progress" to keep open the access road and bridge to the closed Globe Progress gold mine at Reefton, the West Coast Conservation Board has heard.

The West Coast Conservation Board last week heard from Reefton-based board member and geologist John Taylor that liaison between community interests and DOC was "making significant progress" to ensure assets associated with the former mine site, including the access road and bridge across the Inangahua River, were kept.

Under the access agreement granted by DOC to allow Oceana Gold to develop Globe Progress, the access road and bridge had to be removed once site rehabilitation was completed. The mine closed in 2016.

In December, Taylor gave DOC a serve over the way it was
communicating with the Reefton community over the future of that access.

Submissions sought by DOC early in 2022 from Reefton on the future use of the site had come to nothing, a frustrated Mr Taylor said at the time.

"Black and white, we have had no response from the Department of Conservation at all. We expected to get some feedback, we got no feedback. We got nothing," he said in December.

On Monday, Taylor said there were now moves to form an incorporated society to facilitate a transfer and future management agreement with DOC.

It had made clear it would only deal with a formalised legal entity to take on the Globe access road, he said.

"DOC have come in from a position that they will not deal with anything seriously until we have a legal entity to deal with."

DOC's new Greymouth area manager, Chris Hickford, had been "very supportive" in trying to facilitate that, Taylor said.

"With Chris Hickford there is a very good working relationship."

The new entity would be called the Reefton Goldfields Trust, but time was now of the essence, Taylor said.

This was because moves were being initiated under the Oceana Gold and DOC agreement to seek costs to rip out the road, rehabilitate the route, and pull out the bridge in the final site clean up.

"We're running out of time rapidly. In a sense, we're making progress as of that December meeting DOC have for the first time come through and said if you put up a serious business case to keeping Globe (access) open, we'd basically consider it. Until then they would never talk to us."

Western South Island director Mark Davies made no comment on the matter at the board's meeting in Westport last week.

But in December he acknowledged a "communication breakdown" around Reefton community aspirations to keep the access open.

Taylor said the proposal now for a trust would also deal with local volunteer work currently being done on DOC administered land in the area, particularly around securing heritage sites.

Currently that was technically illegal at present.

As well, securing the Globe access would crucially provide an alternative to the now closed Rough Creek Track by linking up Waiuta and Big River via the Inkerman Track to the mine's 'outer ring road' and then down to the Globe site.

"That makes a really fit for purpose alternative to the old Rough Creek Track."