OceanaGold | Waihi North Project | Recreation and tourism assessment 9 2 Introduction The current Waihi life of mine plan, including Project Martha, is to complete production by the end of 2030. Analysis conducted between 2016 and 2020 identified opportunities to expand the Waihi operation with one new open pit, Gladstone Open Pit (GOP), and one new underground development (Wharekirauponga Underground Mine or WUG). OceanaGold New Zealand Limited (OGNZL) has engaged Rob Greenaway & Associates to prepare an assessment of effects on recreation and tourism values for the proposed Waihi North Project (WNP, the Project). This report is provided to inform the preparation of the Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE, Mitchell Daysh 2022), which describes the Project in detail. The Waihi North Project comprises several elements, including: a new underground mine and associated facilities (WUG); a new open pit (Gladstone Open Pit, GOP); a new tailings storage facility (TSF3); a new rock stack (the Northern Rock Stack, NRS); upgrades to the existing Waihi Processing Plant and Water Treatment Plant (WTP); and reconsenting of the existing treated water discharge to the Ohinemuri River and duplicating the two diffusers in the bed of the River. This report describes the recreation and tourism values of the publicly accessible areas potentially affected by each of these Project components, and assesses the relevant effects. Three study areas are defined: the forest area affected by the vent raises associated with the WUG which are proposed to be located on unformed legal road within the Coromandel Forest Park Conservation Area; the peri-urban recreation settings near Waihi potentially affected by the GOP, TSF3 and NRS; and the Ohinemuri River into which the WTP discharges treated water. 2.1 Method This assessment is based on: Literature review. Interviews with recreation and tourism providers in Waihi. Review of the Waihi North Project description. Review of parallel technical reports which define: Noise effects from the WUG vent raises in the Park (Marshall Day, 2022); Noise and landscape effects from the GOP, NRS and TSF3 (Marshall Day 2022 and Boffa Miskell 2022a); and Effects of the activities on water quality and freshwater ecology values in the Ohinemuri River (Boffa Miskell 2022b).
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