Sam Neill video ramps up backlash to Central Otago gold mine

Thursday, 19 February 2026

Central Otago’s very own Hollywood star, Sir Sam Neill, is showing his muscle against a Australian company’s plans to gold mine the rugged district.

Hollywood actor and Kiwi treasure Sir Sam Neill has released a sobering video on a potential mine set to change the landscape of Central Otago.

Most famous for roles in the Jurassic Park films, Neill is advocating for the rugged landscape he calls home in a bid to rally opposition to a gold mine near Hawea by Australian company Santana Minerals.

An agreement between Santana Minerals and Central Otago District Council was signed earlier this month, allowing the mining company to use two public roads leading to its mine site in exchange for a $1.25 million annual payment when the gold mine in the hills near Cromwell begins production.

Set to bring 350 jobs to the region, the mine is welcome news for some, but Neill said in his six-minute documentary the plans were a “travesty”.

Filmed in the Dunstan Mountains in January and framed as a call-to-action in “big, beautiful, brooding country”,Neill describes the damage a mine in the district would do.

“This isn’t a bit of panning in a creek, this is mining on an industrial scale.“

Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring at the site of a planned gold mine at Bendigo, Central Otago.

Facilities would include “four huge open pits”, the largest 1km long by 1km wide and at least 200m deep, and a 1km-long processing plant including “six very large cyanide tanks” where gold is extracted.

One of his concerns is a 2km-long tailings dam, an embankment that would store mining by-products including arsenic and cyanide in a conservation area. Holding the equivalent of 10,000 Olympic swimming pools full of “toxic sludge”, he said “worldwide experts are telling us that it’s not a matter of if tailings dams fail, it’s a matter of when … it’s inevitable, and tailings dams are forever”.

Neill compared mines in Western Australia to the proposed South Island mine 30km from Hawea and close to Cromwell and Wanaka, saying this mine wasn’t “remote”.

“This is where people live.”

Neill’s Instagram has been scattered with posts opposing the mine since late last year among videos of his chooks, movie promos and flowers.

In his latest post, featuring a trailer of the short documentary that was released on Tuesday, he encourages those in opposition to the mine to “please add your name to the growing list of people who are saying NO to this dirty business”.

“We can’t let this travesty happen, so join me and thousands of others just like you and me by adding your voice in opposition, it’s incredibly important that you do.”