3-AD006.00 SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT WAIHI NORTH PROJECT Oceana Gold New Zealand Limited WSP June 2022 1 1. INTRODUCTION Oceana Gold New Zealand Limited (OGNZL) proposes the expansion of the Waihi mining operation, known as the Waihi North Project (WNP). For the proposed project to proceed, Resource Management Act, 1991 (RMA) resource consents will be required. The accompanying Assessment of Environmental Effects Report (AEE) will require inputs from multiple different disciplines, including from social experts. WSP New Zealand Limited (WSP) has been appointed to undertake an independent Social Impact Assessment (SIA) to inform the RMA requirements necessary for the WNP to proceed. In addition, the SIA is being undertaken to meet the requirement of OGNZL’s Corporate External Affairs and Social Performance Standards and to inform internal decision making. 1.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this SIA is to identify and fully consider the potential positive and negative impacts of the proposed WNP on the local and regional social environment. The overall intention of the SIA is to ensure that the negative impacts are identified, understood, and effectively avoided, remedied or mitigated, and that potential benefits of the project are acknowledged and enhanced where possible. The scope of the SIA includes: • Development of an assessment framework based on international best practice. • Assessment of relevant statutory and non-statutory documents to provide regulatory and policy context for the project. • Development of an understanding of the social context in which the proposed project will take place through the collection and analysis of baseline data. • Review of other specialist and technical studies associated with the proposed project through a ‘social lens’. • Review of feedback from the public consultation process undertaken by OGNZL. • Bespoke engagement with identified stakeholders to collect primary data to inform the understanding of the social context and the identification and assessment of impacts. • Identification and assessment of the social effects of the Project against the defined framework. • Identification of appropriate mitigation, avoidance or remedial strategies. • Identification of appropriate enhancement measures. The methodology used in the preparation of this assessment is outlined in Section 4. The SIA is part of a wider suite of technical reports informing the AEE and, while it overlaps with topics which are the focus of other technical reports, it examines these from a social perspective.
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