The week a gold mine laid bare a region’s deepest fears and fiercest loyalties
5 May 2026
Mike White writes: For three days this week, a panel considered arguments about a controversial gold mine planned for Central Otago. There were high-powered experts and expensive lawyers. But perhaps the greatest truths came from the smallest people. Mike White was there.
[...] “If the mine goes through, we’ll still have to be there,” Claire told the panellists. “No one will buy our properties.” “We will bear quite considerable costs,” Geoff added. “But we will see no benefits.”
[...] “I realise I’m only a very small cog in the big decision-making process that’s come upon us,” Reinecke told the panel, his words hinting how his life had been swallowed by Santana’s actions, and his future had slipped out of his hands.
[...] “When we finally got them to sit at the table with us and have a cup of coffee and a discussion, there was more substance in the scone than there was in the conversation,” Beau remembers.
[...] “The incompatibility of this project means I can’t be there - I’ve got to get out. It will completely blow the wind out of my sails.”
