Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Associate Minister of Energy Harry Duynhoven approved permits to enable a population of Powelliphanta Augustus snails to be moved from the Mt Augustus ridgeline on the West Coast.

Solid Energy had applied with the Department of Conservation to move the snails in August 2005 and had suspended work on the ridgeline from February this year while it waited for the permit outcome.

Solid Energy welcomed the decision saying the relocation would secure the future of the opencast mine and give the best possible chance of survival for the Powelliphanta snail population on the site.

The permit includes strict conditions where the snails must be relocated by hand and the habitat directly transferred to an adjacent site. The relocation and direct transfer sites will be subject to ongoing predator control measures.

The ridgeline area holds about 5 million tonnes of high-quality coking coal. The coal at Mt Augustus, valued at about $NZ400 million, is needed to blend and raise the specifications of lower quality coal in other parts of the site to meet customer orders.

Yesterday’s decision has come under intense criticism from the Green Party and conservation groups including the Save Happy Valley Coalition, which labelled the decision “a black day for New Zealand biodiversity”

The Green Party said the Government had put commercial considerations ahead of the protection of a highly endangered native species.

The Green Party contended that Solid Energy mining should be halted until it was confirmed that the snails had survived and flourished in their new location.