Chris Hipkins returned to Labour's former heartland the West Coast on Thursday - where the party was born.
They were pro-mining back then but have since changed their tune, with Labour promising to ban all new mining on conservation land.
Hipkins visited the Runanga Miner's Hall on Thursday, a bastion of Labour and the mining union movement. Getting artwork inspired by it and having a tour of its renovations, Hipkins then went down the road to see another Labour bastion: Nan Dixon.
"Usually, you're putting sausage rolls in your mouth," she said.
"That's true, I've had a lot of sausage rolls," Hipkins replied.
She's a passionate party stalwart who's also got a strong connection to mining: her husband and her son worked - and were killed - in the mines, though she's still a supporter of them.
Asked if there should be more new mines, she said: "Well, there should be but they're not going to open them up, are they?
"I don't think the mines will open up again with the Greenies and all that, will they?"
Hipkins replied he didn't think so.
But it's not just the Greenies, it's also Labour.
The Governor-General set it in stone in the Government's 2017 Speech from the Throne - that was six years ago and it still hasn't happened.
But Hipkins insisted Labour "remains committed to that policy".
"There are still a couple of bits that we are working through," he said. "One is around the access to pounamu, particularly with Ngai Tahu."
Pounamu or greenstone, or jade, is also emblematic of the Coast.
"It's all special and it's all different," said Shades of Jade owner Warren Wollett.
"People have a real connection with it."
Shades of Jade has been selling local pounamu for 25 years.
Ethical stone must be purchased from Ngāi Tahu and the iwi gets about 90 percent of it as a by-product of third-party mining operations, much of which is on conservation land, hence their opposition to Labour's ban.
Asked if there could be carve-out for them, Hipkins replied: "I don't want to cut across negotiations because we are still in conservation with them."
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Deputy Kaiwhakahaere Matapura Ellison told Newshub: "What the Prime Minister is saying is a surprise to us.
"We have actively engaged with Crown ministers and the Department of Conservation on the proposed policy and we have been waiting for Cabinet to announce its decision since the end of May.
"Pounamu is a taonga of the utmost importance to Ngāi Tahu culture and tradition. This treasured resource encapsulates our identity and our culture.
"As kaitiaki, we have rights and responsibilities for the management of pounamu which is central to our whakapapa and tribal history."
Gven the significance of pounamu to Ngāi Tahu, Ellison said "our engagement with the Crown was focused on ensuring any potential policy does not impact our customary and Settlement rights".
Hipkins said he knows "from experience that these things do take time and it is important that we get them right".
The only place members of the public are legally allowed to gather pounamu is on the beach, if you've got a good eye or a bit of luck.
Labour will need that and more to solve its quandary, balancing environmental protection with indigenous rights.
