Cypress Mine

The Cypress Mine is a proposed extension to the open cast coal mine the Stockton Mine’s operational area, to the east into the Upper Waimangaroa Mining Permit area, on the West Coast of New Zealand.[1]

Cypress Mine

The Cypress Mine is in the West Coast Region.

In 2005, Solid Energy, a state owned enterprise owned by the New Zealand government, was granted resource consent for the mine after an unsuccessful appeal to the Environment Court.[2]

A view of part of Cypress Mine site. The SHVC occupation camp is in the foreground.

Save Happy Valley Coalition (SHVC), an environmental organisation, opposed the mine and occupied land adjacent to the proposed mine site for two years. SHVC say that the mine will cause acid mine drainage, destruction of habitat of endangered species and result in 12 to 14 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, contributing to climate change.

Solid Energy's Environmental Report 2007 stated that the mine is planned to start in 2008.[3] Solid Energy has stated that the mine will be developed in 2010 and that the first coal is expected to be taken in late 2011.[1]

In October 2012 Solid Energy announced that work on the mine would be delayed.[4]

On 12 June 2013, The Biodiversity Defence Society filed proceedings with the Environment Court, arguing that Solid Energy no longer holds resource consents for its Cypress Mine, due to the expiry of the allocated time period of the consent. [5]