What an absolute gold mine that gold mine is

Stretching across the East Otago landscape is Oceana Gold’s Macraes gold mine, as the Macraes Village (top, centre) lies a short distance away.

Oceana Gold celebrated 35 years of operation at the mine last weekend, with an open day that attracted more than 1000 people.

The last time the mine held an open day was in 2017.

General manager James Isles said the day was an opportunity for people to see the scale and size of its operations, equipment and learn more about the mining process.

It is touted as New Zealand’s largest gold mine, employing about 650 workers and supporting thousands of indirect jobs in the region.