B-1 - Area 1, Coromandel Forest Park – Assessment of Environmental Effects 134 8. CONCLUSION OGNZL is seeking all necessary resource consents from the HDC and the WRC for the various activities within the CFP, including subsurface WNP activities within Area 1. These comprise: The Waihi North Biodiversity Project – a large scale predator control and habitat enhancement project within a 18,870 ha area of the CFP; and Underground mining within a much more confined 430.5 ha area at the southern end of the CFP. The specific objectives and details of the Waihi North Biodiversity Project will be developed and implemented in consultation with Mana Whenua and other key stakeholders. It will involve company spending of approximately $8.4 Million on predator control and habitat enhancement within an 18,870 ha area over at minimum, a 10 year term. The cultural effects of the activities are being addressed with tangata whenua through the CVA / CIA process described in Chapter 4 of the Overarching AEE. An assessment of all other potential effects on the environment of proposed activities in Area 1 is provided in Section 5 of this sub AEE, as well as the various technical assessments commissioned by OGNZL. The nature of the activity means most of the mine related activities are subsurface, with the surface manifestations within the CFP being limited to: Those associated with the establishment and operation of four ventilation raises; Episodic surface vibration due to blasting within the mine; and The positive effects which manifest as a result of the Waihi North Biodiversity Project. The effects associated with the establishment and operation of the vent raise sites will be very small and localised. They will be similar in nature to those associated with establishment of OGNZL’s various exploration drilling sites in this area which are managed effectively in accordance with a range of conditions imposed by DOC under its access agreements. It is proposed that those proven methods be also applied to the proposed activities, and they form the basis of many of the proposed conditions. Work commissioned by OGNZL for this project means the best estimate for the total Coromandel Archey’s frog population is 54.8 million frogs. This is substantially greater than original assumptions of national population size, of between 5,000 - 20,000 mature individuals. When mining commences there is a low (but uncertain) risk for this project to generate residual adverse effects on Archey’s frogs within the 314ha area exposed to
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