The Fonterra Cooperative Group has confirmed it has put on hold a proposed coal mine at Mangatangi while it assesses its energy options.
BusinessDesk reports that the Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA), which is trying to stop coal mining in New Zealand says that Fonterra sent a letter last week to local residents confirming the decision, which the cooperative put down to its economic position and that of the dairy industry generally.
CANA’s Jeanette Fitzsimmons says the initial deferment of the mine was said to be due to environmental conditions and then to coal prices, and now was being explained away with economic reasons.
“No doubt all three have something to do with it,” says Fitzsimmons.
The group is still campaigning to cut Fonterra’s use of coal, claiming it is the country’s third largest coal user.
Fitzsimmons has estimated the dairy giant consumes 520,000 tonnes of coal a year at its various milk processing plants, an increase of 38% since 2008.
That figure includes Fitzsimmons’s estimates around likely coal usage at the planned Studholme plant, in South Canterbury, which has yet to be granted a resource consent.
Fonterra won’t confirm its total coal use for commercial sensitivity reasons and Ministry of Business and Innovation figures provide only annual sector usage rather than individual company.
Fonterra said in an emailed statement to BusinessDesk that it was “committed to optimising its energy mix towards cleaner, more efficient forms of energy, and continues to investigate secure, cost effective alternatives to reduce emissions intensity and contribute to our energy efficiency.”
