By Kate Chapman of NZPA

Wellington, Sept 16 NZPA - The Green Party has launched a petition and staged a protest in opposition to mining in conservation land.

Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said last month that the Government was planning a stocktake of valuable minerals in Conservation land protected under Schedule Four of the Crown Minerals Act.

A stocktake was "perfectly reasonable" and did not indicate the Government would allow conservation land to be dug up, he said.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the stocktake should cease and the Government withdraw its position.

"There's no point doing a stocktake unless you intend to sell off what you find," she said at a protest outside Parliament today.

"Let's not get swayed by this idea that it's just a stocktake, in fact it's preparation for retail of the resources that you find in the ground."

Supporters dressed in white bio-hazard suits and used fake metal detectors to search for metal outside Parliament.

Mrs Turei said she did not expect them to find anything.

"I don't expect that they'll find anything particularly valuable, certainly not in the Beehive at the moment."

New Zealanders valued the economic and social aspects of conservation land not the minerals that were underneath, she said.

"It's really unfortunate that we have to continue to fight to protect these most highly valued and treasured places."

The Greens have launched a petition to give New Zealanders an opportunity to have their say and "send a strong message to the Government that there will be no mining under this publics' watch".

In Parliament today, Mr Brownlee said the Government had "no intention to plunder" conservation land.

"I have no desire, nor does this Government, to pillage our most valuable conservation land.

"The Government has not said that we are going to mine in national parks, we have said that we're going to take stock of some of the land that is currently in schedule four that has low conservation value."