B-6 – Area 6 – Assessment of Environmental Effects 5 2.2 CULTURAL LANDSCAPE The cultural landscape in which this site sits is described in Sections 5 and 7 of the Overarching AEE document. 2.3 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING The site is located at 699 Golden Valley Road, approximately 2 km east of the Waihi urban area. It is bordered to the north by Golden Valley Road, to the west by the Ohinemuri River, to the east by farmland and SNA T13UP166 (“SNA166”), and to the south by the existing conveyor and TSF facilities. Vehicular access to Area 6 is primarily from access roads within the site, accessed off Baxter Road. Area 6 occupies part of an undulating and modified alluvial terrace along the true left bank of the Ohinemuri River. The southern end of Area 6 currently contains the eastern end of the existing ore conveyor, the Northern Stockpile and a workshop area. The balance of the footprint contains grazed paddocks, farm tracks, dispersed farm buildings and shelter planting. OGNZL owns a single-story dwelling at 699 Golden Valley Road which is within the footprint of a proposed topsoil stockpile and will need to be removed. SNA166 encompasses vegetated areas which sit to the north east and south east of the site. An area of pastoral farmland bisects these areas (Figure 3). The Ohinemuri River, flows in a north – south direction on the western boundary of Area 6. The Waikato Regional Plan (‘WRP’) classifies the river as a ‘Significant Trout Fisheries and Trout Habitat Water Class’. A tributary of the Ohinemuri River known as TB1 runs through the northern half of the site from east to west. It was substantially modified during the construction of the Northern Stockpile and has subsequently been voluntarily planted by OGNZL. It may contain wetland habitat, but is not a natural inland wetland in the context of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (“NPSFM”) as it is a constructed wetland.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjE2NDg3