The Tui mine is an abandoned mine on the western slopes of Mount Te Aroha in the Kaimai Range of New Zealand. It is considered to be the most contaminated site in the country, following the clean up of the former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site at Mapua, Nelson.[1]
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In the 1960s, the Tui mine extracted copper, lead and zinc sulphides.[2] The mine was abandoned in 1973, after the mining company Norpac Mining went bankrupt.[1] Waste, rock ore dumps and mine tailings were left behind. The tailings have significant amounts of zinc and cadmium.[2] The mine tailings are stored behind a dam in a large pool-like area which has an oxidised, solid surface layer.[1]
The tailings dam is considered to be unstable and is leaching various minerals, including heavy metals, into neighbouring waterways and this adversely affects the stream ecology. According to Environment Waikato, the Tui mine has three major environmental impacts;
In 2007, the New Zealand Government announced that $9.88 million will be made available to clean up the site with the work scheduled to be completed by 2010.[4] In April 2010 it was reported that the estimated cost of the clean-up would be $17.4 million[5] and in 2011 a sum of $16.2 million was allocated to the cleanup with most of the funding from central government.[6]