Trans-Tasman Resources has pulled its fast-track application to extract resources from the Taranaki seabed, after an expert panel issued a draft decision against it.
Trans-Tasman Resources executive chairman Alan Eggers notified the Environmental Protection Authority on Thursday of its decision to withdraw the project.
In May, Eggers stated that the company had uncovered a world-class vanadium deposit capable of generating $1 billion annually for the economy.
Trans-Tasman proposed extracting 50 million tonnes of seabed material annually for 30 years in the South Taranaki Bight.
Just recently, the fast-track approvals panel released a draft decision rejecting it.
The panel identified a credible risk of harm to Māui dolphins, kororā/little penguins, and fairy prions.
Eggers told Capital Letter, a site offering court judgement summaries and legislative updates, that withdrawing the application reflected disappointment in the draft decision, as TTR strongly disagreed with most of its assessments.
He said New Zealanders should feel disappointed, as the expert panel was denying a significant economic boost.
Greens environment spokesperson Lan Pham said she was thrilled by the news.
“This is one of the zombie projects that have been resurrected under this government’s Fast Track bill, because it’s been able to bypass so many of our usual environmental protections.
“The government, if they are really serious about wanting to provide certainty to investors and companies, they’d get on and actually ban seabed mining.”
Pham called it “cowardly” that the company wouldn’t complete the full process, adding that overseas firms typically “fish their projects around the world” to anyone willing to buy in.
She affirmed the Greens’ commitment to revoking and repealing the worst projects that could slip through the fast-track process.
She argued that despite the draft decision declining TTR’s application, the fast-track process was flawed because it bypassed key environmental protections. She also expressed concern over New Zealand First’s insistence on restoring “ministerial decision-making” in the process at all costs.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also welcomed the withdrawal. She described the win as belonging to “our people,” while urging continued vigilance on debates over critical minerals.