Resource consent has been sought for an alluvial gold mining operation in the Nevis Valley in an area classified as an outstanding landscape.
Golden Bush Mining Ltd has sought land use consent from the Central Otago District Council to extract gold from a previously mined area at Schoolhouse Creek Flats. It already holds a mining permit for a 785ha block and planned to mine three strips of land within that block.
The council's landscape assessment maps identify the area as outstanding landscape.
As part of the operation, the mining company has also sought resource consent from the Otago Regional Council to take water from a mining pit next to a watercourse, for land use consent to alter the bed of a watercourse and to obtain a discharge permit.
District council planning team leader Ann Rodgers said the applicant had sought a joint hearing by the district and regional councils, but no date had been set.
Golden Bush director Mark Skinner said the application was essentially a replacement permit for recently expired consents held by Coleman Mining Ltd under the same mining permit.
The district and regional councils had authorised previous mining permits and acknowledged effects were likely to be less than minor.
"The wealth of Otago and New Zealand was founded on gold-mining, and especially so in areas such as the Nevis Valley. The Nevis Valley has experienced several gold rushes using different methods, over several centuries," it said.
"While some members of the public may feel mining is inappropriate, it is not incongruous for individuals passing through the valley to see a mining operation in play."
The operation would comprise an open pit of "modest size" with the gold recovery plant on pontoons, floating in the mine pond. It would employ up to three staff for six days a week.
Mining of the area should be completed within five years but it had sought a seven-year consent for flexibility.
The entire valley had historical features and a moa processing site was a key feature, the company said. It was happy to volunteer no mining or track building was to occur near that site.
The proposed mine was in a remote area. The closest dwelling was kilometres away so the possibility of dust being a nuisance was "practically nil".
A report prepared by ecologist and botanist Neill Simpson said the operation could be carried out over much of the site with minimal effect on the long-term ecological values of the area, providing places containing threatened plants were excluded.
GOLDEN BUSH MINING
• Open cast alluvial gold extraction operation.
• At Schoolhouse Creek flats in Nevis Valley.
• Three sections to be mined within 785ha block.
• Land use consent sought for seven years.
• Joint regional-district council hearing to be held.
• Submissions close June 3.
