“Surgical mining” like “surgical bombing”

12 comments on ““Surgical mining” like “surgical bombing” ”

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1. tc 1

   23 March 2010 at 2:41 pm

   let’s all hold our breath while the msm hone their investigative skills in exposing this blatant porky
2. freedom 2

   23 March 2010 at 2:50 pm

   i cannot hold my breath that long

   and i will always love
   “As minister of tourism, I’m not going to do something silly with the Department of Conservation estate. I understand its importance to the New Zealand economy,” [PM]said.

   i guess that is why he gave the shovel to Gerry Bullshitdozer
3. ak 3

   23 March 2010 at 2:55 pm

   Mind ye, there is one “keyhole” surgery I wouldn’t mind attempting with a 15-ton digger……
4. Pascal's bookie 4

   23 March 2010 at 4:02 pm

   yeah, the surgical mining line is just as stupid as the rest of it.

   To put it in a way the few supporters of this madness might understand, it’s like telling a man you’re going to cut his dick off, but it’s ok cause you’ll stench the bleeding and give him a nice new pair of pants when your finished so no one will notice.
5. ieuan 5

   23 March 2010 at 9:28 pm

   I’m so glad I’ve got The Standard to advise me on all the issues around mining, clearly you guys are all experts as you’ve obviously all spent a considerable amount of time at mines and know exactly what you’re talking about.
   • lprent 5.1

     23 March 2010 at 9:35 pm

     Well you’ve probably got more info out of us than you have out of Brownlee… Have you read the dodgy proposal that he has. The numbers are all over the place and everything is pretty damn vague.

     Just the type of information that you want when there are only 6 weeks before submissions close… Of course that is a Brownlee hallmark. Stupid decisions based on inadequate information from lobby groups.

     Care to comment on the (in)sufficiency of information from the government?
   • Pascal's bookie 5.2

     23 March 2010 at 9:39 pm

     I’m equally glad you took the time to share that little nugget ieuan.

     Things is, this issue isn’t really about mining, it’s about schedule four lands. Try and keep up.

     And before you start to explain to us all about how modern methods blah blah blah, stop and ask yourself these questions:

     If being placed in s4 can’t protect that lands that they are removing from the schedule, what protects the rest of the lands in the schedule?

     Why the focus on s4 lands, instead of doing the stocktake on lands that haven’t been recognised as having intrinsic values worth protecting from mining?

     If you have answers to those questions please share them with us, you sarkie little shit, because those are the questions we’ve been looking for answers to and no one has come up with anything. Anything at all. It’s most peculiar.

     Edit: I’m off to bed now, so you’ve got plenty of time. You should perhaps use it reading the other threads so as to avoid repeating the responses to those questions that have been received so far, which don’t make any sense.
     • Pascal's bookie 5.2.1

       24 March 2010 at 5:02 am

       Iuean?
6. Armchair Critic 6

   23 March 2010 at 11:12 pm

   Surgical mining is just the prelude.
   Ten or twenty years later the ming company says “Surgical mining is not economical any more. Let us open cast it to recover the full value, or we will pack up our toys and go back home.”
   So the government says “Well, it’s already being mined and the environment is starting to look pretty dodgy, what with those heavy haulage roads, that processing plant, the deep water port and the tailings storage dam. May as well open up a big hole in the ground to complete the picture.”
   Two examples. Rotowaro coal mine near Huntly. Martha gold mine in Waihi. Both started life as underground mines with shafts and drives, both are now big ugly holes in the ground.
   I see, on a vaguely related topic, that DOC are asking for tenders for a benthic survey of the southern Firth of Thames. Coincidence, of course. But fits in well with the need for AEEs for mines in the Coromandel.
   • felix 6.1

     23 March 2010 at 11:58 pm

     Ten or twenty years??? Jeez, who thinks that far ahead? We’ll probably all be living in Hawaii by then anyway.

     Also I think the ming company sounds a bit ominous, don’t you?
     • BLiP 6.1.1

       24 March 2010 at 12:03 am

       Its a type – the “e” is missing off the end.
     • Armchair Critic 6.1.2

       24 March 2010 at 12:08 am

       Fair call on the ming company – it has been a long day.
       Martha Hill has been mined since the 1880s, I think, and Rotowaro since 1915. With a few breaks of course, but mining is not a short term operation and the pack up and leave mentality that was prevalent (and may well still be prevalent) needs to be eliminated, wherever the mining occurs.
       Surgical mining is a form of prospecting. The main difference is that it provides return close to or exceeding the cost of extracting the resource. The big bucks are made by open cast mining.

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