Latest news with #SuzeKeith
Otago Daily Times
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
More clarity on impacts of gold mining called for
About 180 people attended a meeting opposing Central Otago's upcoming gold-mining project, as they called for more transparency on potential impacts. Local group Sustainable Tarras has held meetings in Dunedin and Wanaka over the past week and garnered significant support from the community in its opposition to the Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project located in Tarras. The project is being carried out by Australian-based mining company Santana Minerals and will establish an open pit and underground gold mine on Bendigo and Ardgour Stations in Central Otago. The open pit will be 1000m long, 850m wide and 200m deep. The meeting held by Sustainable Tarras at the Wanaka Presbyterian Church on Thursday evening was attended by the Otago Daily Times, and featured industry experts and residents showing their opposition to the project. Sustainable Tarras chairwoman Suze Keith said about 100 people had indicated they would attend the meeting, but the turnout exceeded expectations, an estimated 180 people turning up. "It really reinforces that we're not on our own, because we are a small community, and that the Wanaka community do care beyond the boundary of their town," she said. The meeting also included videos sent in from Green MPs Scott Willis and Lan Pham as well as Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking, who all showed their support for the work the group was doing. One of the main speakers at the meeting was Sustainable Tarras member Rob van der Mark. Concerned about the impacts of the project, the Tarras local took it upon himself to do a deep dive into the impacts of this project several months ago and said he felt there were many gaps in the information available. Throughout his speech, he highlighted the lack of clear communication and transparency he faced when he approached Santana Minerals. "We've had good dialogue with Santana in the past ... We don't learn a lot, but I think they learn a lot from us," he said. Major concerns discussed at the meeting included concerns chemicals such as arsenic and cyanide could potentially be released into the air or seep into the ground and local creeks. The processing plant for the mine will be located in the lower Shepherds Valley and chemicals used to process gold such as cyanide will be held at a tailings storage facility. The storage facility is set to be 260m wide and will include a tailings dam. "Santana will do their best to clean it up ... but everybody who has large dams knows that dams leak and it's that long-term risk that we will be left with," Mr van der Mark said. In a statement released on the same day as the Sustainable Tarras Wanaka meeting, Santana Minerals said the processing plant would ensure cyanide concentrations were below the level deemed safe for wildlife before chemicals were discharged into the tailings storage facility. As the company prepares to finish its fast-track application, it stated many environmental assessments had been completed and several key ecological reports were still in progress. The Sustainable Tarras team are calling for the company to further involve the community by being more open about the reports it is undertaking. "They're telling their shareholders they've completed all these background reports. Well, when we ask for them, we get stonewalled," Mr van der Mark said. Santana Minerals said feedback from its regular drop-in sessions had been largely positive, and the company was committed to ensuring the project was beneficial to the community. "For many of our team this is our home too, and our focus is on listening, refining and working together to build a project that Central Otago can be proud of for generations to come," Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring said in a statement.
Scoop
2 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Local Opposition To Central Otago Goldmine Conducts Public Meetings
Opponents of a proposed Central Otago goldmine have ramped up their campaign this week, with public meetings in Dunedin and Wānaka. Australian company Santana Minerals has signalled plans to seek a fast-track permit for a mine between Bendigo and Ophir, where it estimated it could extract gold worth $4.4 billion. Lobby group Sustainable Tarras Inc raised concerns about the mine's visibility on the landscape - particularly the inclusion of one large, 1000x850m open pit mine, three smaller satellite pits and a tailings dam. The group also expressed concerns about large quantities of cyanide being stored upstream of the Clutha River, and the potential impact the project would have on the region's tourism and viticulture. Chair Suze Keith said about 50 people turned up in Dunedin on Tuesday and more than 100 had registered for the meeting in Wānaka on Thursday night. Speakers included academics, environmental advocates and Labour Party MP for Dunedin Rachel Booking. Ms Keith said the idea of the meetings was "to make a bit of noise". "We don't think that a project of this scale and of its nature is well suited to fast-tracking decision-making," she said. "It might make the decisions come out quickly, but we've got 10 years of operation of this thing and then we've got the perpetual liability of a toxic tailings dam." Santana Minerals has held its own public drop-in sessions at Tarras and Cromwell to discuss the project, with two more planned in coming weeks. The company said the fast-track application aimed to accelerate decision-making, "but it did not override the requirements of the Resource Management Act or other applicable legislation". Keith said the process had fuelled concerns about limited public input. "People are really interested to understand where it is and what it comprises, because a goldmine is not just a mess of a open hole on the ground, it's got a whole lot of other moving parts to it," she said. "What are the implications for the immediate area and the wider area in terms of what it would mean if it does go ahead?" Satana Minerals said the proposed mine was expected to have low visibility, due to surrounding landforms, and environmental considerations were "central" to project planning. It said the processing plant would be located in the lower Shepherds Valley, "strategically sited to leverage natural topography, thereby minimising potential impacts from noise, light, dust, and visibility". Its tailings dam would be built to the highest safety standards, including resilience to a 1-in-10,000 year seismic event, it said, and the company described the work to support its consent application as "one of the most intensive and comprehensive studies ever conducted on the Dunstan Mountains". Several key ecological reports were still underway and the company planned to lodge its application "at the earliest opportunity".
Otago Daily Times
11-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
‘Worrying issues' about proposed goldmine raised
Sustainable Tarras is holding public meetings in Dunedin and Wānaka next week to address "numerous very worrying issues" about a fast-track application for a goldmine in Central Otago. Sustainable Tarras chairwoman Suze Keith said in a statement there was a "broad spectrum of issues" the community was very concerned about in relation to Santana Minerals' Bendigo-Ophir gold project near Tarras. "From the information released so far, there are numerous very worrying issues," she said. "These include the size and scale of the mine right in the heart of an outstanding natural landscape, the massive tailings dam which will hold 10,000 Olympic swimming pools of toxic waste, and the extensive use and storage of large quantities of cyanide just upstream of the Clutha River. And that's just the tip of the iceberg." The meetings would involve a presentation and panel discussion and had been organised by a range of groups of volunteers including Sustainable Tarras, Central Otago Lakes Forest & Bird and Central Otago Environmental Society. On its website, Santana Minerals said it had discovered the most significant single gold deposit in New Zealand in over four decades is at the Bendigo-Ophir site. "We are now focused on developing the project into an environmentally responsible, economically sustainable mining project bringing inter-generational employment and prosperity to the region." — APL
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Urgent Public Meetings Planned For Dunedin And Wānaka As Concern Over Fast-Tracked Goldmine Swells
Press Release – Sustainable Tarras Inc Suze Keith, chair of Sustainable Tarras Inc., says that there is a broad spectrum of issues people are very concerned about. She said that local communities are just coming to grips with the scale of the mine. As community concern about the planned fast-tracked open-pit gold mine in Central Otago grows, two urgent public meetings have been organised in Dunedin and Wānaka next week. Organisers have confirmed that there is already strong interest in both meetings. The meetings, in Dunedin on Tuesday 17 June and in Wānaka on Thursday 19 June, will include a panel of expert speakers to lay out the known facts about the fast-tracked gold mine, take audience questions and discuss what the community can do. The panelist line up is being announced later this week. Suze Keith, chair of Sustainable Tarras Inc., says that there is a broad spectrum of issues people are very concerned about. 'From the information released so far, there are numerous very worrying issues' she said. 'These include the size and scale of the mine right in the heart of an Outstanding Natural Landscape, the massive tailings dam which will hold 10,000 olympic swimming pools of toxic waste, and the extensive use and storage of large quantities of cyanide just upstream of the Clutha River. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.' Santana Minerals, an Australian company, is preparing its full fast-track application to file in June this year, and aims to 'strip the landcover by 2026.' Despite numerous requests for details and meetings, Santana is not being open and transparent with concerned locals. 'They're not providing us information we're reasonably asking for, and which we know they have got.' She said that local communities are just coming to grips with the scale of the mine. 'Even the cyanide-leaching processing plant will be 130m wide and a kilometer long. The mine will involve an estimated 200 million tonnes of waste rock and 13 million tons of toxic tailings. These numbers, and the likely impacts and risks, are mind-boggling.' The mine is also getting attention from people who are concerned that the fast-track process is being used inappropriately for a project which is not about public infrastructure or community benefit, but rather is solely about extraction of resources and maximising shareholder profits, most of which will go offshore. This mine would become the largest single earthworks in Otago since the Clyde Dam could be approved without the general public having any right of input into the proposal. People interested in attending meetings in Dunedin or Wānaka can register to find out more and secure a seat at The meetings are free to attend, but numbers are limited. Key, high-level facts we know about the planned mine so far: There is a lot of detail behind each of these points Santana Minerals is proposing to establish a giant open-cast gold mine along Thomson Gorge Road in the Dunstan Mountains, Central Otago. The mine would be located on land zoned as an Outstanding Natural Landscape in the Central Otago District Plan, and in a conservation-covenanted site. The site is highly visible from other locations in the upper Clutha basin, including Hawea, local highways and from the air. Four open pits are planned, the largest 1 km wide and 200-300m deep. Santana further proposes a tailings dam 2 km wide holding the equivalent of 10,000 olympic swimming pools of toxic waste. The mine will also require a cyanide-leaching processing plant 130 m wide and 1 km long. The mine will involve an estimated 200 million tons of waste rock and 13 million tons of toxic tailings. Under the Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024, Santana is looking to file its full application with the EPA in June 2025. Santana claims it could be stripping the landcover by 2026. The mine would be the largest single earthworks in Central Otago since the Clyde Dam and could be approved without the general public having any right of input into the proposal. Santana Minerals Limited is an Australian company. If given the green light, it hopes to attract international investment partners to fund its proposal. Santana asserts high profits over a ten-year period, though no account has been taken of losses to be suffered by local industries such as viticulture and tourism, or the environmental costs. Locals are widely opposed, and see the mine as a destructive and unnecessary incursion on the area's virtues.
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Urgent Public Meetings Planned For Dunedin And Wānaka As Concern Over Fast-Tracked Goldmine Swells
As community concern about the planned fast-tracked open-pit gold mine in Central Otago grows, two urgent public meetings have been organised in Dunedin and Wānaka next week. Organisers have confirmed that there is already strong interest in both meetings. The meetings, in Dunedin on Tuesday 17 June and in Wānaka on Thursday 19 June, will include a panel of expert speakers to lay out the known facts about the fast-tracked gold mine, take audience questions and discuss what the community can do. The panelist line up is being announced later this week. Suze Keith, chair of Sustainable Tarras Inc., says that there is a broad spectrum of issues people are very concerned about. 'From the information released so far, there are numerous very worrying issues' she said. 'These include the size and scale of the mine right in the heart of an Outstanding Natural Landscape, the massive tailings dam which will hold 10,000 olympic swimming pools of toxic waste, and the extensive use and storage of large quantities of cyanide just upstream of the Clutha River. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.' Santana Minerals, an Australian company, is preparing its full fast-track application to file in June this year, and aims to 'strip the landcover by 2026.' Despite numerous requests for details and meetings, Santana is not being open and transparent with concerned locals. 'They're not providing us information we're reasonably asking for, and which we know they have got.' She said that local communities are just coming to grips with the scale of the mine. 'Even the cyanide-leaching processing plant will be 130m wide and a kilometer long. The mine will involve an estimated 200 million tonnes of waste rock and 13 million tons of toxic tailings. These numbers, and the likely impacts and risks, are mind-boggling.' The mine is also getting attention from people who are concerned that the fast-track process is being used inappropriately for a project which is not about public infrastructure or community benefit, but rather is solely about extraction of resources and maximising shareholder profits, most of which will go offshore. This mine would become the largest single earthworks in Otago since the Clyde Dam could be approved without the general public having any right of input into the proposal. People interested in attending meetings in Dunedin or Wānaka can register to find out more and secure a seat at The meetings are free to attend, but numbers are limited. Key, high-level facts we know about the planned mine so far: There is a lot of detail behind each of these points Santana Minerals is proposing to establish a giant open-cast gold mine along Thomson Gorge Road in the Dunstan Mountains, Central Otago. The mine would be located on land zoned as an Outstanding Natural Landscape in the Central Otago District Plan, and in a conservation-covenanted site. The site is highly visible from other locations in the upper Clutha basin, including Hawea, local highways and from the air. Four open pits are planned, the largest 1 km wide and 200-300m deep. Santana further proposes a tailings dam 2 km wide holding the equivalent of 10,000 olympic swimming pools of toxic waste. The mine will also require a cyanide-leaching processing plant 130 m wide and 1 km long. The mine will involve an estimated 200 million tons of waste rock and 13 million tons of toxic tailings. Under the Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024, Santana is looking to file its full application with the EPA in June 2025. Santana claims it could be stripping the landcover by 2026. The mine would be the largest single earthworks in Central Otago since the Clyde Dam and could be approved without the general public having any right of input into the proposal. Santana Minerals Limited is an Australian company. If given the green light, it hopes to attract international investment partners to fund its proposal. Santana asserts high profits over a ten-year period, though no account has been taken of losses to be suffered by local industries such as viticulture and tourism, or the environmental costs. Locals are widely opposed, and see the mine as a destructive and unnecessary incursion on the area's virtues.
