Labour MP claims gold mine’s promised benefits ‘absolute bullshit’
Sunday, 28 June 2026
Senior Labour MP Damien O’Connor has made his party’s strongest comments yet in opposition to a controversial gold mine planned near Cromwell.
“I’m starting to appreciate the expanse and the unique and fragile environment that is Central Otago,” O’Connor recently told a gathering at the proposed mine site at Bendigo, south of Tarras.
“You can’t just come and put a mine in.”
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Formerly from the West Coast, O’Connor now lives in Dunedin, and at November’s election is standing in the Waitaki electorate, which encompasses Santana Minerals’ planned mine. The mine would include four open pits, a tailings dam containing up to 22 million tonnes of chemical waste, and operate 24/7 for at least 14 years.
The former Trade, Agriculture, and Rural Communities Minister, ranked 16th on Labour’s list, raised strong concerns about Santana’s promises of benefits for nearby towns, when speaking at an event organised by the Fools Gold group, which opposes the mine.
“The Australian companies that come here - and I’ve worked in Australia and the Australian mines - they are pretty bloody arrogant, to be blunt.
“You hear a lot of claims from mining companies how they’ll benefit the local community. The reality is that, in the short term, local people will be affected, and can I say I empathise with those local people living here, who are right at the forefront of this disruption.
“There’ll be some short-term gains, contractors get work, then the medium and the long term issues must be considered.”
O’Connor drew parallels with New Zealand’s largest gold mine, Macraes, which is 90km from Santana’s Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project, near the town of Palmerston.
“What will be left there will not be some pristine rehabilitation, it will be a ginormous hole in the ground, with some risks long-term to the community in that area. If the benefits were to be so good, then you would think that Palmerston itself should have been transformed. It has not.
“The idea that Tarras will be transformed into this nirvana of prosperity is absolute bullshit. There will be fly-in fly-out (workers). There will be people, because the skills won’t be here, that will be brought in. There will be lots of machinery, there will be lots of dust, and there will be a big dam.”
O’Connor pointed to how gold and coal mining companies paid just $13 million in royalties to the government in 2024-25, describing this as “an insult and a pittance.”
(OceanaGold, New Zealand’s largest gold mining company, expects to pay $23 million in royalties for the most recent financial year, on the back of skyrocketing gold prices.)
Santana’s mine proposal is currently being considered by a panel of experts under the Government’s fast-track legislation, but O’Connor said Labour absolutely opposed this process for such a complex project.
“I’m not confident with the level of political interference that is occurring across our governance and under the coalition at the moment. I’m not confident that that independent panel, and I’m not besmirching any of the reputations of the people involved, but there’s a huge amount of pressure to dig dig dig and grow grow grow.”
O’Connor’s criticisms of Santana’s project go much further than his party’s official stance on the issue.
Labour’s environment and RMA reform spokesperson, Rachel Brooking, said the party “kind of avoid having specific views on various proposals”, but said it was unfortunate Santana’s mine was being considered under the Government’s fast-track scheme.
Labour hadn’t taken a position on any fast-track applications, but was concerned the process wouldn’t adequately prioritise the environment, Brooking said.
“That doesn’t mean we’re anti-mining, but we are pro-good environmental protections.”
Brooking took issue with Resources Minister Shane Jones, who has championed Santana’s proposal and criticised opponents as “doom-monger, elitist-oozing naysayers” and “nutrition-deprived crocodiles”.
“I want to be the opposite of Shane Jones,” Brooking said.
“I don’t think it’s the minister’s role to go around with a magic wand saying some things should happen, without thinking about the impacts.”
The fast-track panel was due to make its decision on Santana’s application by October 29, a week before this year’s election. However, on Thursday, Santana announced it was temporarily suspending its application in order to provide the panel with further information. It suggested this pause could be for 20 working days, meaning a final decision on the project would now likely be pushed out till after the election.
Brooking indicated Labour wouldn’t revoke any fast-track consents if it formed the next government, but would look to review environmental protections.
National’s Miles Anderson, the Waitaki electorate MP, defended the fast-track process for projects such as Santana’s mine, insisting the panel would still consider all relevant information, including environmental issues.
Anderson said he supported Santana’s proposal, as long as it complied with all conditions imposed by the panel to mitigate negative issues.
“I can see there would be great economic benefit, and the mine and the neighbouring folk can live in harmony.”
He pointed to the Clyde Dam, and concerns about the arrival of the wine and cherry industries in Central Otago, as examples of initial opposition eventually becoming co-existence.
And Anderson called out O’Connor for changing his tune on mining, given he was previously the West Coast’s MP, a region underpinned by mining for decades.
“I think it’s a bit rich that he comes over to the Waitaki, and has a change of heart.
“I think that’s just very blatantly political opportunism - he’s jumping on a bandwagon.”
Santana’s chief executive, Damian Spring, took issue with O’Connor’s criticism of the royalties paid by mining companies, saying they operated under New Zealand’s laws and rates.
Royalties are paid to the Government for any minerals extracted, because the Crown owns all minerals.
Since 2013, the royalty rate has been set at at 2% of gold sales, or 10% of the company’s accounting profit, whichever is higher.
But virtually all gold mining companies pay only half this (1% of the sale value or 5% of accounting profits) because their mines are connected to permits issued before 2013, when the lower rate applied.
Only one gold mine in New Zealand currently pays the increased 2013 rates, but Santana will pay this higher rate if its mine is granted consent.
However, concerns about New Zealand’s low royalty rates have led the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to conduct a review of the regime, which is ongoing.
While comparisons with other countries are difficult due to differing ways of calculating royalties, New Zealand’s rates appear low.
In Australia, gold royalties are 2.5% in Queensland and 3.5% in Northern Territory. Victoria is 2.75%; South Australia 3.5%; New South Wales 4%; and Queensland 5%.
Papua New Guinea’s government has proposed increasing its gold royalties to between 5% and 10%.
For comparison, large tourism operators in New Zealand are charged 7.5% of gross revenue for concessions to use conservation land such as national parks.
Spring stressed what Santana would pay once it began mining “is not ‘a few royalties.’”
“Before commenting further on what mining pays, Mr O'Connor should look at what this mine will actually return.'