OceanaGold | Waihi North Project | Recreation and tourism assessment 6 circulation and emergency exits. Up to four raises are proposed within the Park, but will emerge on unformed legal road alignments (so not on DOC-administered land). The exact location of the four raises is not yet known, but will be clustered at the northern extent of legal road nearer the Wharekirauponga Track which also forms part of the Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross Track.2 An additional raise on OGNZL-owned land south of the Park is not considered in this assessment. The recreation effects of the proposed construction and operation of the four raises will be on trampers using the largely unformed Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross Track. This is a popular pig hunting area, and has general remote tramping appeal, but low use. The tunnel raise area extends into areas defined by DOC as recreation ‘remote’ zones, where the location of infrastructure is normally minimised and confined to limited facilities to support recreation – such as basic low-use tracks, marked routes and huts. The Marshall Day Acoustics Assessment of Noise Effects (2022) for the proposal indicates that that noise levels from the vents will be slightly above ambient noise levels (around 40 – 45 dB) in very close proximity to one ventilation raise on the Wharekirauponga Track, and would be barely audible at the other raises, and likely only if receivers are at the raise site itself. These noise levels are described by Marshall Day Acoustics to be at a level low enough to be considered not significant. Helicopter movements associated with construction of the raises may be audible by users of the Wharekirauponga Track, although this temporary effect is not considered significant. The potential scale of effect on recreation at a regional level will be very low – considering the scale of effect on tramping in the Park generally and the eventual removal and rehabilitation of the raise sites. However, the effects on activity on the Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross Track could be considered more than minor for those few visitors who encounter them due to landscape effects and the intrusion of industrial structures in an otherwise relatively undeveloped setting. The operation of the raises is unlikely to change the level of activity on the routes since much is motivated by pig hunting and completing a traverse of the Range, and inevitably will represent a minor effect on recreation within the Coromandel Forest Park. Reducing potential effects during the life of the project could include: Locating the raises as far away as possible from established walking routes; Avoiding locating the raises on any tramway formations; Developing track detours away from the raise sites, if effects on vegetation are minor. An additional necessary activity is to provide interpretation about the raises and identify them as features of interest on the routes – considering the established history of mining in the area. Setting accurate expectations about the recreation experience in any destination is an important element of recreation management generally, and leaving the raises as a ‘surprise’ element of a tramp is not recommended. 1.2 GOP, NSR and TSF3 The GOP is proposed to be situated predominantly over Gladstone Hill and part of Winner Hill. A tailings storage facility (TSF3) is proposed to be located east of the existing OGNZL tailings facilities. A rock stack (the NRS) will be constructed to the north of existing TSF2. The GOP will displace mountain biking from Winner Hill and affect access to the Black Hill Motor Cross Track. The NRS will affect a small section of the Full and Half Nugget annual multisport events. These opportunities rely on access over OGNZL land, and there are no agreements in place to 2 The Wharekirauponga Track is also referred to online by DOC as the ‘Te Wharekirauponga Walk’, and ‘Te Wharekirauponga Track’ is used by DOC to describe the relatively unformed route from the western end of that track to Golden Cross. For consistency with other consent reporting, the terms ‘Wharekirauponga Track’ and ‘Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross Track’ are used in this report.
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