Green Party MP Gareth Hughes spoke against seabed mining at the TTR Marine Consent Hearing held at the Devon Hotel in New Plymouth in 2014.

A seabed mining company wanting to extract iron ore from South Taranaki's seabed is having a second crack at applying for consent.

Trans Tasman Resources' (TTR) application to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2014 was rejected on the grounds it did not consider the wider effect on the environment from digging up 50 million tonnes of sand per year.

However, the company is back with a fresh application and has applied to the EPA, an action immediately followed by opposition from protesters.

KASM spokesperson Phil McCabe (left) joined with Taranaki based KASM member Chris Wilkes (centre) and Vera Vander Voorden (right) celebrate the win after EPA declined consent to mine the seabed off Taranaki.

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) chairman Phil McCabe said the last time TTR applied for a marine consent thousands of people made submissions against the company.

READ MORE:

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* Dogged determination sends big business packing

* West Coast seabed mining proposal avoids tricky consent

"From surfers to recreational fishers and local iwi, ocean lovers made a stand against this destructive and experimental practice, and we were proved right," he said.

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining protestors with an Anadarko ship off the King Country coast of Mokau in April 2013.

"The EPA said there were too many unknowns - and nothing has changed."

McCabe said it was disappointing the company had reapplied and were "trying to wear down public opposition".

"This foreign-owned company should know that they will continue to meet strong resistance from Kiwis who will stand up for beaches, ocean and marine environments," he said.

ROBERT CHARLES Opunake High School students gathered at Middleton bay in Opunake today to join in the Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) movement and protest against seabed mining in 2014.

"From the public reaction this week on social media, we know the strength of feeling against seabed mining hasn't gone away. If anything, it's stronger."

KASM will again use a 4700-strong petition against TTR's last application and hopes to see a moratorium on seabed mining in New Zealand altogether.

But TTR's executive chairman Alan Eggers said in a statement that much had changed since the last application.

"TTR have undertaken further scientific studies to respond to each of the perceived gaps the EPA's decision making committee identified when considering our original application," he said.

"To undertake this further work TTR has augmented Niwa's expertise by retaining world-leading experts in sediment modelling, optics and primary production."

Eggers said this process looked specifically at plume sediment behaviour, a factor which led to the EPA denying their first application.

Eggers said TTR had also taken time to work "extensively with stakeholders and other affected parties, including DOC".

TTR's actual goal for the South Taranaki seabed is to extract 50 million tonnes of sand per year and magnetically extract its iron ore, then replacing 90 per cent of the sand to the seabed.

TTR expects the venture - if approved - to generate around 700 jobs for the Taranaki region and a total 1650 jobs nationwide.

With the future of Taranaki's oil industry uncertain while oil giant Shell reviews its New Zealand assets, Eggers said it would contribute to the economic diversity of the region.

One of the EPA's primary concerns with thelast application was the effect sediment plume - caused by uplifting the sand - would have on the seabed environment.

The EPA decision stated that "based on the evidence presented, the sediment plume created by mining would cause shading in the water column affecting primary productivity of phytoplankton and reduce light availability at the seabed affecting benthic primary productivity.

"Overall, we think this application was premature. More time to have better understood the proposed operation and the receiving environment and engage more constructively with existing interests and other parties may have overcome many of the concerns we have set out in this decision."

Eggers said TTR's operation could be conducted with "minimal environmental impact" and the company had consulted a "wide range of stakeholders".

Green party co-leader James Shaw said the access to New Zealand's mineral reserves was depleting and companies were resorting to more extreme methods to collect them.

"We've taken all the easy stuff now we're resorting to extreme measures to eke out that last little bit," he said.

"Basically our problem is with a reliance on finite resources."