A liaison committee for the planned multimillion-dollar gold-mining project at Earnscleugh will have its first meeting within the month, just as mining is set to commence in earnest.
Earnscleugh residents registered their interest in the project at a public meeting held at Earnscleugh Hall last week, during which 10 of the almost 200-strong crowd were nominated for positions on the committee.
Dunedin environmental and resource management consultant Tony Dons, the committee facilitator, said 10 residents would be joined by staff from the Otago Regional Council, Central Otago District Council, and Department of Conservation.
Representatives from L and M Mining Ltd would also form part of the committee, which would comprise about 15 people.
Its first meeting would be held within the Earnscleugh or Alexandra area in three or four weeks' time, when preliminary ground work on L and M's mining site had started.
Mr Dons said the committee would discuss mining operations, monitoring, complaints, plans, and any issues raised concerning the project in general.
"The main purpose of the committee is to ensure good communication between residents and L and M Mining. Committee members will get to view the mining operations themselves and also recommend further community consultation," Mr Dons said.
"It's important the information discussed by the committee is communicated out to the wider community."
Follow-up meetings would occur every two months or so in the first stages of the project, after which quarterly meetings would be scheduled.
Mr Dons said last week's public meeting was generally positive, with questions asked by the public about details of the mining operation and monitoring.
"There were more people there than we expected, and the general mood was positive. We were happy with how it went," he said.
Strong opposition to the project came from residents during the initial consents process almost 10 years ago, and subsequent Environment Court appeal hearing.
L and M Mining was granted final consents to mine the Earnscleugh flats in 2004.
