Three resource consent applications from Oceana Gold — to the Dunedin City, Otago Regional and Waitaki District councils — were publicly notified over the weekend. All relate to its Macraes Phase 4 (MP4) Project, near Palmerston.
The mine also celebrated 35 years of operation at Macraes at the weekend, with an open day on Saturday.
Mine bosses have said the MP4 project would extend the life of the mine to about 2030, by expanding current operations and revisiting previously mined areas.
The activities sought for approval included extensions of the Innes Mills, Coronation and Golden Bar open pits, and second stage tailings disposal in the Frasers storage facility.
The mine, which supports thousands of jobs in the area and has been extended multiple times since it opened in 1990, has lately been the focus of concern for multiple breaches of conditions of existing land use consents.
Meanwhile, Oceana Gold said more than 1000 people, including friends and family of employees, attended the free open day that included bus tours to view the operation and its active mining pits and processing plants.
The open day also featured educational and showcase stalls and family activities such as digger competitions, spot prizes and a bouncy castle.
The company is actively mining 1500 hectares at the site.
General manager James Isles said the last open day was in 2017.
The day was a good opportunity for people to see the scale and size of the operation, the equipment and learn more about the mining process and see how "modern the technology is", he said.
Sally Turner and Penny Clark, both of Earnscleugh, were happy to obtain seats on the "very popular" bus tours to view the mine’s machinery including New Zealand’s only electric digger.
Brad McKenzie, of Oamaru, who attended the open day with his 19-month-old son Liam, said it was "amazing".
Oceana Gold chief executive Gerard Bond said he was "really happy" with the celebrations and the future of the mine.
Mr Bond said there was no question about the future viability of the Macraes mine.
"At today’s gold price, which is at a record high, we have a comfortable margin. Obviously gold prices can fluctuate . . . but, we have 2 million ounces of gold in resource and we measure resource at $1950 an ounce. The gold price today is $3000 an ounce.
"So that’s a nice bit of buffer," he said.
