Fuelled by fears of the potential impact of Santana Minerals’ proposed open-cast mine at Bendigo, environmental groups say a modern-day Otago gold rush could jeopardise the region’s scenic value, ecosystems, water and existing industries.
The Otago Daily Times reported this week a significant increase over the past several months in the amount of land in the region now covered by applications to look for gold.
In the ODT report, Resources Minister Shane Jones said the government was taking a more permissive approach towards mining, and because the price of gold was soaring, "people are prepared to chance their arm".
In response, the Central Otago Environmental Society (COES) told the ODT it feared local rules protecting the environment could be overwhelmed by the political push for more mining "anywhere".
Sustainable Tarras said Mr Jones’ comments were concerning — and Santana Minerals’ Bendigo-Ophir project could create a domino effect in the gold sector where problems would only surface once mining began.
Forest & Bird said the push for gold ignored the climate crisis and locals could end up footing the bill for cleaning up once companies left the area.
COES chairman Phil Murray said given "the government’s view of encouraging mining, any sort of mining anywhere" and the high price of gold, the rush of new permit applications in Otago was expected.
However, a recent survey of residents of Central Otago said opportunities for getting out in nature and the area’s scenery topped the list for why people came to the district.
"Healthy rivers and maintenance of landscape quality are essential underpinnings of our economy.
"COES’ concern is that the current political environment will conspire to overwhelm these rules and the community aspirations for maintaining a quality environment."
The Santana Minerals proposal risked the "landscape, conservation, tourism, water and economic returns of the area".
"This is typical of the trade-offs we will be making in accommodating a new gold rush in Central Otago," Mr Murray said.
"When the gold runs out and the jobs no longer exist, we will be left with a legacy of a degraded landscape and environmental risk from toxic tailings," he said.
Sustainable Tarras chairwoman Suze Keith said she was concerned about the potential fast-track approval of a Santana Minerals mine that would be "visible from the moon".
If the Australia-based company was seen to be successful, it would be followed by "a lot of really opportunistic prospecting by companies who are largely overseas owned".
"Sustainable Tarras’ view on it is that you’re essentially — if you take a sort of ‘drill, baby, drill’ government, coupled with what could be a bubble gold price, and you’re going to rush through decisions on that — you’re essentially, potentially opening up Central Otago to become an industrial mining estate."
Ms Keith said Sustainable Tarras was "very much focused" on the Bendigo-Ophir project, because it was a listed project in the government’s new fast-track legislation.
"We’re super concerned that this is the first domino in the line."
Forest & Bird Otago-Southland regional conservation manager Chelsea McGaw said she was concerned about the likelihood at least some of the new applications for prospecting would be on conservation land, or land with conservation covenants on it — established to protect the land’s natural, cultural, or historical values.
"This is completely at odds with mining activities."
Both coastal and Central Otago were teeming with biodiversity — the region was home to 31 lizard species, for example, she said.
Those animals along with a variety of rare and threatened plant species could be at risk if some of the applications under evaluation were to go ahead.
"Mining activities leave a legacy of environmental and landscape damage, with local communities often landed with the cleanup bills once the companies have packed up and left the area (or folded completely).
"These mining activities are affecting the climate both locally and globally, at a time when we are in a climate crisis and need to be doing all we can to reduce emissions."
Santana Minerals has previously said it believed its proposal would deliver a "sustainable and responsible operation" that could provide enduring benefits that would "far outweigh" any temporary adverse impacts.
