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Chatham Rock Phosphate has been granted a 20-year mining permit to extract phosphate nodules from an 820 square kilometre area of the Chatham Rise, the first key step in its approvals to strip the sea floor of the fertiliser chemical. The permit is the first granted under the amended Crown Minerals Act which came into effect in May. The proposal …

The New Zealand government posted a smaller operating deficit than expected in the first four months of the financial year as it reported a bigger personal tax take and reaped more from customs duties on imported tobacco. The Crown’s operating balance before gains and losses (obegal) was $1.75 billion in the four months ended Oct. 31, smaller than the $2.14 …

The Commerce Commission is consulting with the telecommunications industry over what price Chorus can charge rivals to access its copper telephone lines, suggesting a review process could be accelerated and the final price backdated. The Commerce Commission is reviewing the price by building a full cost model on Chorus’s unbundled local loop, which lets retailers rent the lines for voice …

The Reserve Bank’s inflation target is crucial if it wants the private sector to believe its projected interest rate path, and means the monetary authority needs consistent communications, deputy governor Geoff Bascand says. The central bank is mandated to provide a type of forward guidance in its policy statements, which is typically the future track of the 90-day bank bill …

– New Zealand shares fell as investors punished Diligent Board Member Services for delaying its financial statements again and election-linked regulatory fears continued to weigh on power companies such as MightyRiverPower, Contact Energy and Meridian Energy. The NZX 50 Index dropped 49.698 points, or 1 percent, to 4734.155. Within the index, 38 stocks fell, four rose and eight were unchanged. …

New Zealand shares fell, pushing the NZX 50 index to a two-month low, as Infratil dropped in the wake of its buyback, Chorus suffered from the uncertainty around regulated price cuts, and Meridian Energy and MightyRiverPower declined. The NZX 50 dropped 14.206 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4719.949, the lowest close since Oct. 10. Within the index, 18 stocks fell, …

Potential buyers of the New Zealand unit of Australian waste manager Transpacific Industries have until the end of the day to make their interest known, with indicative bids closing. The first round of bidding will provide a steer for the Queensland-based company as to what it might reap from the sale of its New Zealand waste management business, rather than …

Delegat’s Group, the winemaker which this year bought Australia’s Barossa Valley Estate brand, expects operating profit to rise by about 10 percent in 2014, though it warns a high kiwi dollar may hurt earnings. Net operating earnings are expected to rise to $29 million in the 12 months ending June 30, 2014, from $26.3 million a year earlier, managing director …

Infratil completed its on-market buyback at $2.38 a share, or a total of $59 million. The shares fell 1.7 percent to $2.34 when they resumed trading, having been halted for the buyback. The 24.8 million shares acquired by brokerage First NZ Capital on behalf of Infratil will be held as Treasury stock, shrinking total ordinary shares to about 561 million …

Corporate owners of forestry estates with lax health and safety standards leading to serious injury or death will be easier to target under the new regulatory regime, according to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive David Smol. The forestry sector has come under scrutiny in recent months, with nine deaths in the workplace this year, a level Smol …