By Tess Brunton of RNZ

• Australian mining company Santana Minerals has applied to fast track its Bendigo-Ophir Gold project in Central Otago.
• It's the country's largest new gold project in decades and more than $8 million has already been spent on environmental and technical work, resulting in an application with roughly 9400 pages and 135 reports.
• Sustainable Tarras says they have to review the extensive application within a month despite their concerns that the project will have significant, multi-generational impacts and they will not have an opportunity to have a proper say.
• In response, Santana Minerals says the fast track isn't a shortcut, they've done the hard technical work and would put the evidence on the table for New Zealanders to judge for themselves.

Opponents of a proposed Central Otago gold mine say the fast-track process is being used to bypass the community and ride roughshod over the environment without giving them enough time to review the application.

Santana Minerals rejected the criticism of its fast-track application for the Bendigo-Ophir Gold project, saying it followed years of technical work and environment assessments, and the proposed mine would create hundreds of new jobs, and generate an estimated $5.8 billion in GDP and $1.8b in government revenue.

The company has secured land across Bendigo Station and Ardgour Station, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval, with plans for open pits, a waste dump and supporting infrastructure.

Chief executive Damian Spring said it was a milestone that reflected years of serious technical work and deep environmental assessment by experts.

"As a Kiwi-led team, we are committed to showing how modern resource development can be done responsibly, maintaining environmental integrity, strengthening regional economies and standing behind our rehabilitation commitments," he said.

"I've permitted projects under previous Resource Management Act systems, and the fast-track process demands equal, if not greater, rigour. What it does bring is certainty, and that matters for investment, regional jobs, and national productivity," he said.

Sustainable Tarras deputy chair Rob van der Mark said the company had reneged on a commitment to send each report as soon as it was completed so they were now left with the mammoth task of reviewing more than 9000 pages within a month.

"They have failed to send us anything. They have also failed to answer our many reasonable questions we have put to them, repeatedly, in writing," he said.

"All of us at Sustainable Tarras are unpaid volunteers, who have our regular jobs, businesses and lives to keep afloat. Santana on the other hand has taken years to prepare all of this information - and has paid their staff and paid experts to prepare this."

He did not believe the company's claims about the sustainability, environmental and economic impacts of the mine, saying they had seen little to no evidence to back this up and they had low expectations of Santana's expert reports.

"They will undoubtedly be intentionally limited in scope to fit their narrative and to avoid the negative impacts of this project - of which there are many," van der Mark said.

"They are clearly using the fast-track process to bypass the community and to ride roughshod over the environment.

"We repeat our position that this project is totally unsuitable for a fast-track process evaluation and should be considered more broadly under a Resource Management Act based process where community input and evaluation time is not as limited as it is under fast track."

The proposed mine was riddled with multi-generational, significant impacts including water quality issues, degradation and destruction of unique ecosystems and outstanding natural landscapes, van der Mark said.

Sustainable Tarras hoped to be invited to the fast-track process and had asked Santana Minerals to support them on this, as well as asking the local councils to ensure the affected communities were kept informed and involved in any inputs they provided into the fast track process.

• Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring says the company is "committed to showing how modern resource development can be done responsibly". Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd

In response, Damian Spring said the reports would be released once the statutory checks by the Environmental Protection Authority were made, which was how the fast-track system worked for each applicant.

The review period was set by the legislation and Santana Minerals would support the process with clear information and availability so stakeholders could engage meaningfully, he said.

"We're absolutely comfortable with transparency," Spring said.

"The full suite of technical work will be available shortly, and we welcome informed scrutiny of the evidence when it's live. This isn't about selectively pushing out documents early; it's about ensuring the public sees the complete, verified picture."

He said the claim that Santana Minerals had reneged on providing each report as soon as they were done was not accurate and they did not make a commitment to release the reports as they were drafted.

"With technical work of this scale, releasing material in fragments would risk confusion and misinterpretation. We've engaged consistently and continue to work through the group's detailed questions. Our focus is on providing a complete, verified evidence base through the formal process so the community can review all of the information in context," Spring said.

The expert input was governed by professional standards and rules, and he said it was a disservice to the specialists to suggest otherwise.

He also disagreed with the claim that the fast track process bypassed the community, saying it was not a shortcut, it was a modern framework for major projects with the same evidential bar and a far tighter decision-making discipline.

"The science is strong, the safeguards are firm, and our commitment to environmental standards is non-negotiable," he said.

"This is a team that lives here, raises our families here, and cares deeply about the land and water we all share. This is one of the most scrutinised projects Central has ever seen, nearly 9400 pages of reports, data and science, tested over years.

"We've done the hard technical work, and we'll put the evidence on the table for New Zealanders to see and judge for themselves."

Santana Minerals started talking with members of Sustainable Tarras early last year, had met with them and invited them to join the Community Liaison Group, which they chose not to do, he said.

"That door remains open, but genuine engagement requires front footing the conversation, not commentating from the grandstand."

Main image: Sustainable Tarras deputy chair Rob van der Mark says Santana Minerals is "using the fast-track process to bypass the community and to ride roughshod over the environment". Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton