Posted on May 14, 2025
A Ruakaka developer and sand miner wants to extract seven million cubic metres of sand from farmland in Tapora and create a 27-hectare recreational dune lake with accommodation and nature trails in the process.
John Keith said if consented, his Okahukura Lakes project would create minimal impact and would, in time, benefit the environment – unlike the current fast-track bid to dredge marine sand from Bream Bay.
“The volume of sand is equal to what they’re wanting to take out of Bream Bay, but we’re saying it shouldn’t come out of the sea,” he said.
“Why destroy a river bed, seabed and a beach when you can actually make a lake that the environment will benefit from?”
The 40-hectare site is directly opposite Tapora Golf Club and Te Puni Tapora Campground, and is bordered by farmland to the north, avocado orchards to the south and the Okahukura Conservation Area and Kaipara Harbour to the west.
The north-east corner of the block also borders the Tapora Cemetery.
If consented, the sand extraction could take up to 50 years before the dune lake system was fully complete.
“When it’s finished, there’ll be an island going through the middle with dunes and wetlands, and there’ll be lodges around the outside of it,” Keith said.
“It would be exactly the same size as the two (smaller) lakes at Kai Iwi, but without the noisy boats.”
Keith said he was currently preparing reports for a resource consent application to Auckland Council and would not be resorting to the fast-track process.
“We intend to go through the public procedure – we’re comfortable with what we are, we’re not going to sneak under fast-track or try and cheat,” he said.
“If it needs to be public, we’ll go public, I don’t care. What I do really care about is does the community want it.
“If they’re against it, we would not do it.”
Even if everything went to plan, Keith did not envisage work starting for at least 18 months to two years.
“There are certain things that have to happen in reality – the road needs to be tar-sealed from Tapora to Wellsford, and motorways have to be built north and south, but they’re starting to happen.”
Auckland Transport recently sealed a 4.5km-stretch of Run Road between both ends of Burma Road and sealing is scheduled for the rest of the road into Tapora over the next two to three years. However, Okahukura Road from the community’s centre out to the project site remains unsealed.
Keith said it was early days, but he expected the sand mining operation could mean around 30 truck-loads a day leaving the site.
“We’re still working through traffic movements, so it’s a bit early for me to comment, but we would probably be looking at up to maximum of 1000 tonnes a day, which would be about 30 30-tonne trucks a day,” he said.
“Our impact while we’re operating will be very, very small. We’ll only be employing a few people on the job, plus truck drivers, and it will continue to be a farm until the lake gets bigger and bigger.”
He said that unlike many mining operations, creating a dune lake would benefit the local environment.
“It ties in well because you’ve got the sea and the birds, you’ve got the sand flats there, you’ve got Sand Island and now you’ll end up with a ginormous fresh lake,” he said.
“We don’t need to destroy the seabed. This is clearly the obvious alternative.
“Let’s go into virgin land, let’s make a dune lake and let all the birds come, let all the fish come, and let all the community come and enjoy the lake. It will be an asset and like Kai Iwi lakes, another gem of the North – the community wins, nature wins, everybody wins.”
Keith added that Envirosands Tapora would follow the same philosophy as his previous sand mining and commercial developments in Ruakaka.
“First, imagine a circle and that circle is the environment. Inside that circle is another circle – the community, then there’s the third circle, which is business. If you get the first two right, the third one is guaranteed to be successful.
“Tapora is absolutely special but if the community don’t want me, we won’t be there.”
The site lies behind Tapora Cemetery.
