Taranaki VTM

Project summary

Extract up to approximately 50 million tonnes of seabed material per year, over 20 years, recover up to approximately 5 million tonnes of vanadium-rich titanomagnetite concentrate, return the de-ored material to the seabed, and monitor environmental recovery for up to 5 years post-extraction.

Project location

65.76 square kilometres located between 22 kilometres and 36 kilometres from the coastline of South Taranaki.

Project listing application

Taranaki VTM application – Ministry for the Environment website

Completeness decision 

The substantive application by Trans-Tasman Resources Limited was deemed complete on 15 May 2025. The application complies with the requirements of section 46 (2) of the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024. The application was lodged on 23 April 2025.  

Record of decision on completeness for Taranaki VTM substantive application (PDF, 95KB) 

The Fast-track team will check for any competing applications/existing resource consents, before providing the application to the panel convener. 

Competing applications decision

The substantive application by Trans-Tasman Resources Limited was deemed to not have any competing applications or existing resource consents on 29 May 2025. This decision is required under section 47 of the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024.

Record of decision on competing applications fort Taranaki VTM substantive application (PDF, 83KB)

Decision of appointment of panel and timing of panel decisions

On 12 August 2025, the panel convener issued a Minute regarding the appointment of the expert panel and the timeframe for panel decisions for the Taranaki VTM project under clause 2 of section 79 of the Act.

The Minute can be viewed on the Correspondence page for the Taranaki VTM project.

Correspondence