TTR Iron Sands Fast Track Application declined

The Fast Track expert panel has issued a draft decision proposing to decline Trans Tasman Resources’ application to mine iron rich sands from the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight under the Fast Track Approvals Act 2024. The decision is not yet final and TTR has an opportunity to comment, with the final decision due in mid-March 2026.

The panel found the South Taranaki Bight is an ecologically important area, supporting at least 12 threatened species, including Māui dolphins, pygmy blue whales, penguins and seabirds.

It concluded there was a credible risk of serious harm, particularly from underwater noise, sediment plumes and cumulative impacts. For highly vulnerable species, the panel found these risks could not be reliably avoided, remedied or mitigated through conditions. 

Applying the Fast track Act’s proportionality test, the panel concluded:

“The adverse environmental impacts were sufficiently significant to be out of proportion to the project’s regional or national benefits”.

While acknowledging claimed economic benefits (jobs, exports, critical minerals), the panel found they were overstated and uncertain and did not justify the level of environmental risk.

Dawson & Associates has represented a consortium of fishing industry submitters who opposed the application at three hearings before the EPA, and through three court hearings culminating in the Supreme Court.

This is a significant decision by the Fast Track Panel, as it shows the Fast Track regime is not an automatic approval pathway even for large nationally significant mining projects, and that environmental limits and proportionality tests still matter under the Fast Track Approvals Act.