B-1 - Area 1, Coromandel Forest Park – Assessment of Environmental Effects 68 potential benefits of undertaking pest control within 318 ha of habitat adjoining the vibration exposure areas of the WUG surface footprint would therefore be more than sufficient to balance losses that may occur under a worst case scenario of adverse effects on Archey’s frogs within the >2 mm /sec vibration area of the WUG surface footprint. Pest control as part of the Waihi North Biodiversity Project (discussed below) within surrounding buffer areas and the Otahu Ecological Area would provide additional benefits to frogs on top of this. Collectively, the proposed enhancements to frog habitat are intended to provide for a net benefit to Archey’s frogs as a result of the WUG project. Providing assurance around net benefit requires an understanding of how the projected benefits from enhancement (in this case pest control) will result in no-net-loss of frogs, so that benefits beyond no-net-loss can be proposed. 5.2.3 The Biodiversity Project The Waihi North Biodiversity Project is proposed as a way to ensure habitats and species are maintained and enhanced in the vicinity of WNP for at least the foreseeable future and ideally in perpetuity. The proposed approach deliberately maximises the involvement of tangata whenua and other people (including via employment) and is intended to be designed with long term (inter-generational) ecological outcomes in mind. The details of the Waihi North Biodiversity Project are currently being worked through with tangata whenua. This engagement process will be ongoing following lodgement of the consent applications. Through that process it is envisaged that details on the project objectives and the mechanism for overseeing the design, governance, implementation, monitoring and review of the project may be agreed prior to a decision on the applications being made. OGNZL has committed to contributing at least $8.4 million to finance the work involved in establishing and designing the Waihi North Biodiversity Project over a period of at least 10 years. The dollar value proposed each year is that it has been advised as appropriate to effectively fund two years of predator control (one during operation and one following closure). So, in effect, 10 years of mining should fund the implementation of 20 years of predator control work. While the design of the Waihi North Biodiversity Project is ongoing, as a starting point for discussion the Ecology Company (2022) has produced an assessment of the potential opportunities for the project. A copy of this report is included in Part H of these application documents.
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