This document may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written consent of Marshall Day Acoustics Limited Rp 001 R0 20210601 SJP (Waihi North Noise Assessment) ISSUE 9 of 79 2.1.3 Mining Licence Conditions The licence, granted in 1987, covers activities in the main Martha Pit and across most of the OGNZL’s Waihi operations. It was last updated in 2016 ahead of its expiry the following year. The original licence area and subsequent developments from it are shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Established mining areas, with proposed WNP activities In relation to operational noise from the Mining Licence area (blue shade in Figure 2), Condition 21(a) states that: “All activities provided for by theMining Licence taking place on any site within theMining Licence area shall not exceed the following limits when measured at or within the boundary of any residentially zoned site or the notional boundary of any occupied dwelling in the Rural Zone and measured over the periods specified below: Monday-Friday 0700 - 2100 55 dB LAeq Saturday 0700 - 1200 55 dB LAeq All other times 40 dB LAeq 2100 - 0700 (the following day) 70 dB LAFmax 2 OGNZL Document Ref: WAI-200-PLN-014, available fromOGNZL website. All noise shall be measured within or close to the boundary of any residentially zoned site or the notional boundary of any occupied rural dwelling site not owned by the licence holder or related Company or not subject to an agreement with the licence holder or related Company. In the event that a property is sold and ceases to be subject to an agreement between the licence holder (or related Company) and the purchaser, or in the event that there is no longer an agreement between the licence holder (or related Company) and the landowner, the location for the measurement of noise shall revert to being on or close to the boundary of that residentially zoned site or the notional boundary of the occupied rural site.” Part D of the condition requires that noise be measured and assessed in accordance with the 2008 versions of New Zealand’s environmental noise standards (discussed in Section 2.3.1 of this report), while Part E of the condition requires that a Noise Management Plan be prepared that should ‘detail the methods used to comply with Conditions 21 and 30’. General Matters Condition 30a requires that noise monitoring be undertaken on a weekly basis during construction and at least biannually for normal operations. OGNZL is also required to prepare and maintain a Noise Management Plan (NMP) that details the methods used to comply with the noise limits (Condition 30b). We understand that the most recently certified version of this was issued in May 20192. This document brings together all of the conditions and obligations from the various consents and permits, not just those discussed in the Mining Licence. There are various conditions (e.g. Condition 7D) that primarily relate to noise mitigation for Martha pit works and are therefore not discussed further here. Overall, the updated licence conditions (issued 27 March 2017) mostly brought the noise standards into alignment with more contemporary guidance, which at the time were the updated EMMA conditions (discussed above) and the 2014 District Plan review. This update therefore adopted the best practice provisions of the time, such as moving to the use of Leq rather than L10 as the primary noise assessment parameter. Construction Noise Conditions 8 and 9 stipulate the timing and noise limits for construction activities. With the exception of Waihi Central School, which is not affected by the WNP construction, all other areas are governed by the construction noise limits that are commensurate with the NZS 6803:1999 construction noise limits for regular duration works, described later in Section 2.2.2. However, the rule differs from NZS 6803:1999 in that the noise limit at ‘all other times’, including Sundays and Public Holidays, is 40 dB LAeq (rather than 45 dB LAeq in the Standard) and because the limits apply at residential boundaries or rural notional boundaries (NZS 6803:1999 applies the limits at the façades of sensitive buildings, rather than at boundaries). Condition 3 defined the scope of construction operations, with these limited to ‘initial construction activities’ (removal of vegetation and topsoil; initial cutbacks and benching; demolition of surface facilities; creation of noise bunds; site clearance; and plant upgrades or installation) and ‘other construction activities’ (disestablishing noise bunds at end of life; removing plant and equipment; land rehabilitation; and lake outlet construction).
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