Smith embarrasses Labour over Bathurst

Smith embarrasses Labour over Bathurst
By Pattrick Smellie May 28 (BusinessDesk) – Conservation Minister Nick Smith batted off Opposition questions in Parliament about granting access for a coking coal mine to Bathurst Resources with a letter from the Labour Party’s West Coast MP Damien O’Connor urging him to approve the mine. The controversial development on the Denniston Plateau is stuck in the courts amid legal challenges to resource consents granted to Bathurst in August 2011. Smith granted access rights over Department of Conservation land last Wednesday to allow the mine t...