Good morning and thanks for the chance to talk to you.
It's really pleasing to see so many industry representatives here I want to
spend a few minutes talking about issues relating to your industry. At the end of today I would like to leave you with three
strong messages from government. The first
is that this government supports environmentally responsible mining and the
endeavours of the mining industry. The
second is that explorers and developers are wanted and welcomed in
New
Zealand. And the last is that it is up to the industry to keep
the public properly informed about how your industry and to constantly work on
improving your public image.
The mining industry is a high-tech industry which fits
snugly with our concept of a growing knowledge-based economy. It has particular
value for regional development, the gold mining industry alone provides more
than 4,000 jobs - mostly outside of the main cities. The industrial minerals
industry is twice as large as that.
As well as those
people directly employed by the industry there are greater downstream effects
for the community. One example from the broader extraction industry of this is
of the local pie shop down the road from one of Taranaki's petroleum industry
locations. The shop sells over $4,000 worth of pies a week to workers in the
industry.
That's just one example of the positive benefits the
industry brings to its local community and is the sort of real positive benefit
you need to be telling people about