Protester claims mine worker fired shotgun to scare him
A climate activist camped in a coal bucket suspended high above the ground near a West Coast mine claims one of the site's workers fired a shotgun to scare him off - but the mining company denies the accusation.
For nine days, two activists from the group Climate Liberation Aotearoa had been camped in coal buckets at Stockton Mine, north of Westport.
The protest was against plans for the Bathurst Resources mine to expand under the government's fast track approvals legislation.
One of the pair, Tamati Taptiklis, told RNZ that at 2.30pm on Tuesday three shotgun shots were fired into the air nearby.
Taptiklis said he could see a person 250 metres away in a Bathurst Resources uniform. They were walking away and lowering a long, thin object.
The activist believed that the person was from the company and intended to fire warning shots to scare the pair and encourage them leave the mine.
RNZ put these claims to Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon, who rejected them.
"No firearms were let off at any time."
Tacon said the company had strict rules and that he did not believe they employed "anyone stupid enough" to commit such an act.
Taptiklis said that his group had also received an online threat from one of the mine's employees that read: "Angry, upset locals have been busy collecting information on you, your organisation and on those within our community that may have assisted you in your recent industrial sabotage.
"I would strongly suggest that it would not be very wise for any of you to be seen within our district over the next few months, years, or if at all ever."
Tacon said he was not aware of such a threat and would not condone the behaviour if a worker did write the statement.
"We certainly don't use threats and innuendo to try to get where we want to be, so you know I do not condone it.
"I can understand that there's a lot of angst because of the really existential threat to their livelihoods."
Tacon said that he would talk to the police about the claimed threat and the ongoing protest action.
Police told RNZ they were aware of broad threats made against the activists at Stockton Mine, but no reports had been made to the agency.
The mine had to transport coal by truck because of the protest - which had so far cost the company $270,000.
"We have had to put a trucking road bridge in, we have got about 10 trucks hauling coal, additional cost is about $30,000 a day," Tacon said.
Productivity levels were quite low at the mine, he said.
"Everyone is very worried about what is going on. The main topic of conversation is, are they still there? What are we going to do? How are we going to get them out of there?"
He said he would not be putting his staff at risk to rescue the protesters.
"They are roped on, they obviously have some experience in that, but one slip and there's no coming back, and we can't help them."
Tamati Taptiklis said that the point of safety was "interesting" given the environmental and climate damage expansion of the Stockton Mine would have caused.
"The impact of opening this new mine will be a huge number of deaths here in Aotearoa and around the world, there's absolutely nothing safe about that."
Tacon said he understood that the protesters wanted the company to withdraw from the fast-track legislation.
He acknowledged that Bathurst's mining caused damage to ecosystems, but said the company had solid rehabilitation and offsetting programmes.
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