www.valenza-engineering.com 381_R_04_Rev 0 OGNZL_WUG_Phase1_Conceptual_Mitigation 40 7. RESOURCE CONSENT PROCESS The WUG development timeline is primarily dependent on the granting of resource consent within the Resource Management Act (RMA 1991). The RMA requires the Waikato Regional Council (WRC) to apply conditions for resource consents that provide measures of compliance intended to protect environmental, resource and amenity values as well as the rights of existing users of resources. This construction timeline starts with development of the exploration tunnel which is intended to allow underground access for further drilling investigations aimed at further definition of mineral resource, and geotechnical and hydrogeological investigations. A pathway from the lodgement of the application to the operating phase of the mine has been developed around the consent process (Appendix D) and the supporting measures presented in this report. This timeline is indicative, the RMA process being largely out of the control of OGC. However, this timeline assists in understanding the staged approach to the consent process. The timeline shown in Appendix D, presents the sequencing and interdependency between the various steps of the Mine Area Groundwater Management Strategy, and covers the investigative and operational phase of the mine. The timeline excludes the mine closure phase at this stage. 7.1. CONSENT CONDITIONS As part of the consent process, OGNZL and their advisors have developed a series of conditions targeted at implementing a series of tasks, from the data acquisition and monitoring stage, through the modelling of impact, the development of water management plans and associated TARPS, to the ongoing reviews by the Select Panel. The consent conditions are consistent with the policy framework which applies to the waterbodies of the Waikato Regional Plan and imply that “the activities authorised must not cause any measurable changes in the natural flows or water quality in any surface water body identified as a Natural State Water Body in the Waikato Regional Plan at the date of issue of the consent, except for those changes caused by the warm spring”. [The Regional Plan’s specific reference to the changes caused by warm spring is not understood from a technical perspective]. Draft conditions for consideration by WRC have been prepared by Mitchell Daysh, OGNZL’s environmental planning consultants, in consultation with the groundwater experts, that include consideration for the following: • Firm ‘no measurable effect’ compliance limits the activity must be managed to achieve in terms of its effects on surface water and shallow groundwater regolith aquifer; • Establishment of baseline groundwater conditions (piezometry and water quality), groundwater and surface water interaction, and inclusion in numerical model development to confirm the baseline hydrology conditions against which compliance with the ‘no measurable effect’ limits will be assessed; • Further data acquisition and analysis (including 3D numerical modelling) during the lodgement phase to allow updated numerical analyses based on any resulting deviation from the established baseline and to account for dynamic effects (e.g., time-series data and the seasonal variations to recharge mechanisms), and the use of dynamic responses to refine the groundwater and surface water interaction;
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