It comes after a permit was approved within Te Wāhipounamu, one of the country's three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The permit covers 157sq km, and allows prospecting for all minerals except uranium.
Green Party list MP and resources spokesperson Steve Abel said heritage sites had long been ruled out for mining, and should remain that way.
"This is among our most precious ecology and magnificent landscapes that are recognised globally, hence it's a world heritage area, this is exactly the space that should be out of bounds to mining, to prospecting and to exploration.
"It's utterly unacceptable this government in its fervour for the boom and bust industry of mining has issued a permit within a world heritage area."
Abel noted that former Prime Minister Sir John Key had ruled out mining in Te Wāhipounamu, in the south-west corner of the South Island, in 2012.
"This government is zealous in its advocacy for mining, it's lost the recognition that the true treasures of our country are the magnificent, unique ecology and landscapes. Those are irreplaceable," Abel said.
"The boom and bust short-term dollars that can be made from mining, and the short-term jobs, are not worth sacrificing something as spectacular as a heritage area."
Regardless of the methods used, any mining would cause permanent damage, he believed.
"It invariably involves disturbance and destruction of the landscape, and it often involves the use of toxic chemicals for extraction that leave an intergenerational legacy of tailings dams laden with cyanide that have to be managed decades after the mines have closed.
"There's acid mine drainage which is already a problem we have on the west coast from historic mining and contemporary mining, so the legacy of mining in these areas is forever. The few dollars that are made are short term."
RNZ has approached Resources Minister Shane Jones' office for comment.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
