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| Professor Barry Barton |
Professor Barry Barton from the University of Waikato’s Te Piringa – Faculty of Law and director of the Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law, has completed his research into the issue and the report is the culmination of his role in a two year, $400,000 project with GNS Science: From Waste to Wealth: Commercial Recovery of Products from Geothermal Fluids.
Professor Barton’s role was to establish the legal framework around the ownership of the minerals found in geothermal fluids. He says his research was an “effort to put a bit of clarity to an interesting piece of New Zealand law”.
He found that under the Resource Management Act, those with water rights also had rights to minerals in the water, but the issue got more complicated if the Crown Minerals Act was involved.
It came down to a statutory interpretation of the word ‘mining’ and whether the removal of minerals from geothermal fluids could be considered mining.
GNS Science will be holding a stakeholder workshop in July 2015 for interested parties to discuss the content of these reports and future opportunities for recovery of minerals from geothermal fluids. If you would like to attend this workshop please email feedback@waste2wealth.co.nz and GNS will keep you posted.
Legal Rights to Minerals in Geothermal Fluids (316.37 kB) - February 2015
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