Stop Central Otago Gold Mine
Help us to stop the development of large-scale industrial gold mining in beautiful Central Otago.
Cromwell, Otago
Santana Minerals (Australia) is planning to develop a series of open cast goldmines in the outstanding Dunstan Mountains, above Tarras, in the Bendigo Ophir area. This gold mine, if it goes ahead, will dramatically alter our natural landscape, has the potential for severe adverse effects to the environment, water supply, and will be a negative impact for our visitor experiences and will greatly impact the wine and agricultural industries of the area.
Mining is a very dirty industry!
We need your help! While Santana Minerals have made it on to the list of the Fast Track Approvals Act, they haven’t yet got consent. We need to fully understand the impacts of this hasty project, which if not planned properly has the potential for failure. If we can get more people making more noise opposing this development, then that’ll make it harder for them to get approval. It may even force this project back to a proper evaluation under the RMA which will include community and independent expert inputs.
The Fast Track Panel has an extremely short period to make a decision. There is a very real risk that they will seek no other advice than that "bought and paid for" by the people who are applying - hence we need independent expert voices now!
Any small donation you can give us will be truly appreciated and very helpful to the cause.
Use of funds
Awareness raising campaigns and experts who can help us unpack and critique the developer's application, which will be thousands of pages of technical evidence covering everything from impacts to water, air, noise, the economy and more.
Other page links
Latest update
Important update about Santana's Fast-Track application 6 February 2026
The Fast-Track convener assigned to Santana’s application made an important set of decisions - the timetable has been set, and the panel chosen. The fast-track panel of 7 experts officially begins work on 25 February 2026. Participants will be invited by 11 March to comment, and will have up to 20 working days to submit their comments and evidence. A decision on Santana’s application will be made due 29 October 2026.
We are relieved to see that the panel convenor has taken into account the many concerns raised by ORC, CODC, DOC, NZ heritage and Iwi. The 140 day panel review period and the further delayed start of the process is confirmation that Santana has failed in their effort to pressure the agencies and the convenor into a superficial and fast review, as they tried when they requested a 30 and later 60 day review.
Likewise, the panel of 7 experts we understand is the largest of any fast track projects to date, and testimony to the complexity, impacts and risks that this project brings. We are cautiously optimistic that this panel will be able to identify the gaps in the data, the overstated economic case, and the underestimation of environmental impacts.
We also remain hopeful that the panel will invite a wide range of affected parties, including ourselves. We have therefore taken steps to engage experts in areas where we believe we can add evidence to what we understand the agencies will be submitting.
Latest donations
Thanks Tim, yes since the outset we've pointed out how inappropriate this type of project is for fast tracking - it will leave behind a perpetual legacy of a tailings dump - essentially a permanent landfill of heavy metals for thousands of years. Why fast track such a decision? The gold ain't going anywhere.
Yes - and communities have knowledge too. The fast track process makes a fatal mistake by excluding both our voice and what we know about the precious land of Central Otago. Thanks!
Kia ora Shane Jones Nemesis (love it :-)), on behalf of the small team at Sustainable Tarras both your donation and humour have made our week.
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