Stantec // Oceana Gold NZ Ltd // Waihi North Project Transportation Assessment 1 1 Introduction The current Waihi life of mine plan, authorised by existing consents including Project Martha, ceases production at the end of 2030. The Waihi North Project (WNP), proposed by Oceana Gold New Zealand Limited (“OGNZL”), seeks to extend the life of the mine operation through to 2037 with rehabilitation and closure in the following year(s) . The WNP includes the following key elements: • The Wharekirauponga Underground Mine (WUG) with associated surface infrastructure to be located on farmland at Willows Road and with underground access to the existing Processing Plant at Waihi; • A new open pit, the Gladstone Open Pit (GOP), that will be mined and converted to a Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) on completion of mining; • A temporary rock stack at Willows Road for WUG (referred to as the Willows Rock Stack or WRS) and a Northern Rock Stack (NRS) near the existing TSFs and Processing Plant; • A new TSF, referred to as TSF3 constructed to the east of the existing TSF1A; • An upgrade of the existing Processing Plant to 2.25 MTPA throughput capacity; and • Upgrading of the existing Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and reconsenting of the treated water discharge to the Ohinemuri River. Stantec has been commissioned by OGNZL to describe and assess the traffic and transportation effects associated with the WNP. The key transportation elements that are considered in this report include: • An outline of the existing transport environment in the vicinity of the project; • A description of the changes in traffic generation expected from the project; • Assessment of likely effects of the expected traffic associated with the proposed activity on the local roads and their points of access to the state highway network; and • Recommendations on potential mitigation measures to be adopted in order to accommodate the expected traffic loading; In summary, based on the recommendations and associated mitigation measures described herein, it is assessed that the potential adverse transportation-related effects of vehicular access and traffic movement associated with the project, during construction and over the longer term, will be avoided or mitigated to an acceptable level. 2 Existing Transportation Environment 2.1 Existing Mine Location The existing Waihi mining processing facilities including the Processing Plant, WTP and tailings storage are located to the southeast of Waihi town centre with primary access from Baxter Road. These processing facilities serve the mine operations including the Martha Pit immediately to the north of Waihi town centre and a series of underground mines under, and to the east and southeast of the Martha Pit . Material is transported between the pit and the ore processing and storage areas by a conveyor which passes beneath SH25. The main administrative offices for the mine are located on the corner of Moresby Avenue and Martha Street adjacent to the Martha Pit. A street network encircles the Martha Pit comprising of various road classifications defined in the Hauraki District Plan (HDP) as depicted in Figure 1. OGNZL has provided advice with respect to the use of the mine accesses. With very few exceptions, current mine traffic passes through one of the two main access gates which are located on Kenny Street (SH25) and Baxter Road. Access locations to the mine areas are shown on Figure 1 and described as: • Principal vehicular access to the Martha Pit is by way of a gated entrance located on SH25 on the corner of Barry Road (previously known as Barry Road now site access only) and Kenny Street (east of Clarke Stree t). • The main vehicular access to the processing area is a gated access at the eastern end of Baxter Road, approximately 1.2 km east of its intersection with SH2.
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