Ngāi Tahu calls for controversial Central Otago gold mine to be rejected
Wednesday, 29 April 2026
Strong concerns have again been raised by iwi regarding a large gold mine in Central Otago proposed by Australian company Santana Minerals.
At a hearing of the Fast-track expert panel in Dunedin on Tuesday, Kā Rūnaka, made up of four rūnaka representing southern Ngāi Tahu hapū, said they opposed the controversial project in its present form.
The rūnaka pointed to lack of consultation from Santana, a paucity of data, poor preparation and incorrect claims in the company’s submissions, and said the short and long-term environmental and cultural effects were “well out of proportion to the economic benefits”.
In response, Santana accepted many of the concerns Kā Rūnaka said it had were genuine, but stressed it had engaged in good faith, and didn’t believe the rūnaka could veto the proposal.
Read more:
Poisoning paradise? The gold mine set to tear apart a community and country
‘Dial it back’: Expert warns Santana to stop confrontation over gold mine
How Central Otago’s gold mine debate is being turned into a class war
Kā Rūnaka’s legal team and experts were appearing before the Fast-track panel that has been appointed to decide if the project goes ahead.
Santana, and its New Zealand subsidiary Matakanui Gold, has applied to dig four large open pit mines in the hills above the Clutha River near Cromwell, as well as mine underground.
This has sparked strong opposition from many groups, including Kā Rūnaka, who described Santana’s engagement as “so deficient” and “ clearly inadequate”, and suggested it only occurred recently.
“I believe the gold should be left in situ,” Kā Rūnaka treaty and cultural expert Edward Ellison told the panel.
He stressed the rūnaka were “pragmatic people”, but the impacts of the proposed mine were not fully understood, and they wanted to ensure “future generations are not encumbered by our actions”.
“We are not opposed to progress. But progress has to be carefully worked through.”
The rūnaka’s mine and environmental engineering expert, Mark Pizey, said the lack of data from Santana meant the mining company was asking everyone “to concede to an uncertain loss, for an uncertain gain”.
In lieu of this information, the company was offering “a promisory note” that it knew what it was doing, and was effectively saying, “don’t worry, we’ve got you”, Pizey said.
Nothing he had seen demonstrated how Santana would deal with something like a toxic spill, and the company had “fallen short of my standards” for evidence of how safe the mine would be in the future.
He said the mine’s footprint of over 600ha meant it was “not a small operation, despite what some people would have you believe”.
In response to a question from the panel whether the mine could be rehabilitated to the extent it wasn’t visible, Pizey said it was impossible for open pit mines not to “leave indelible scars”.
Ecologist Matthew Dale said Ngāi Tahu had been excluded from environmental discussions and workshops with other groups, and there were “significant gaps” in the company’s baseline environmental data.
He pointed to the fact 10km of stream would be destroyed, and the likely widespread effect on up to 750,000 lizards.
Having worked on relocating lizards at fellow Otago mine Macraes, Dale suggested transferring even a small portion of those lizards would take extensive time and effort.
However, Santana pushed back at suggestions its engagement with Ngāi Tahu had been too little, too late.
“I don’t accept consultation has been perfunctory or symbolic,” Santana’s chief executive Damian Spring said.
Nor had it been “a compliance exercise” in order to gain Fast-track approval, but had been undertaken respectfully and constructively, including hui, site visits and workshops, Spring said.
Santana’s counsel, Joshua Leckie, also took issue with claims the company had only engaged with Kā Rūnaka in the last 18 months, saying communication extended back many years previously, and been much more extensive and meaningful than outlined by the rūnaka.
The company was committed to ongoing consultation, with the possibility of a combined cultural advisory group including representatives from Santana and Kā Rūnaka.
The Fast-track expert panel moves to Cromwell on Wednesday and Thursday, where it will hear from other affected or interested parties it has invited to make submissions, including groups of residents for and against the mine.
Six weeks of conferencing and “hot-tubbing” between experts will also begin soon, with a final decision on whether the mine is given the green light or not being made at the end of October.