Seabed mining campaigner Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga) says: "It’s unbelievable that with all the opposition to seabed mining from so many quarters, the industry regulator has quietly approved TTR's application to increase the size of its mining permit from 6600 to 24,300 hectares.

"The decision to approve Trans-Tasman Resources’ application was made four months after TTR pulled out of the open and democratic EPA hearing into its attempts to mine the Taranaki seabed and instead opted to apply via the Luxon government’s Fast Track Approvals process."

Lee adds: "TTR is openly flouting the long-running concerns of local iwi and hapū, Taranaki communities, the fishing industry, scientists and marine experts, despite being rejected time and again in the open court process.

The decision also flies in the face of New Zealand’s necessary transition to renewable energy, with wind developers saying that seabed mining there would prevent the development of offshore wind generation.

Trans-Tasman Resources plans to mine up to 50 million tonnes of iron sands and dump 45 million tonnes of waste back into the ocean every year - for 30 years.

Seabed mining would be a significant threat to marine life, including blue whales, Māui and Hector’s dolphins, little blue penguins, and critical fishing grounds.

"Experts say the sediment plume will travel kilometres destroying marine life and habitat. Expanding the mining area will exponentially increase the destruction," says Lee.