Boffa Miskell Ltd | Waihi North Project | Terrestrial Ecology Values and Effects of the WUG | 22 June 2022 3 density residential and town centre areas. Those proposed surface works not located within the existing Martha Mineral Zone are largely located within the Rural Zone (refer the Hauraki District Plan). The WUG is located under the Coromandel Forest Park (CFP) (administered by the Department of Conservation, DOC), within the Mataura, Ramarama, Waiharakeke and Wharekirauponga catchments. The WUG is located south of Otahu Ecological area, the only Ecological Area in the Waihi Ecological District. The portal entrance, Surface Facilities Area, services corridor, and the tunnel to processing plant at Willows Road are located in predominantly rural land north of Waihi township. 2.2 WNP Project Description The WNP provides for two mining operations, sufficient surplus rock storage and tailings disposal areas and sets appropriate closure criteria. Establishment of a new Surface Facilities Area near the Willows Road portal will be required to support the tunnelling and subsequent mining at Wharekirauponga. A new portal for ore delivery and rock return will be constructed close to the Processing Plant for servicing the Wharekirauponga mine via a tunnel extension to meet at the Willows Road vent raise 1 (underground). Details of the Project are provided in the Assessment of Environmental Effects (Mitchell Daysh 2022). As set out above, the Waihi North Project comprises several components (Figure 1): • A new underground mine, Wharekirauponga, located approximately 11km north-west of the current Processing Plant under DOC-managed land (Coromandel Forest Park). Site infrastructure supporting the mine will be located on OGNZL owned farmland located at the end of Willows Road (Figure 2). The underground mine would exhibit only minimal surface features, in the form of fenced vent raises, on legal road owned by Hauraki District Council; or other suitable sites (Figure 3); • The mining of a new open pit near the existing Processing Plant, centred over Gladstone Hill, the Gladstone Open Pit (GOP). This pit will be converted to a tailings storage facility on completion of mining; • A new tailings storage facility to the east of existing TSF1A, called TSF3; and • New rock stack (NRS) at the Northern Stockpile area adjacent to the existing TSF2. • Changes to the layout of the existing Processing Plant to enable ore processing up to 2.25 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), up from 1.25 MTPA currently.
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