Steve Hepburn

An animal advocate group which was twice denied a chance to contribute to a fast-track hearing says it has been treated unfairly.

There was an elephant in the room at the final day of the one-day hearings, although it was an animal nowhere near the size of the world’s largest land mammal.

A $50 million fund, set up to provide cash for a trust to rehabilitate land at the site of the Santana Minerals goldmine when it closed, brought more questions than answers yesterday.

The Santana Minerals goldmine was described as the biggest project in the fast-track process, but was not nationally significant.

Two environmental groups involved in the Santana Minerals fast-track process say they have run out of time and money and are asking for cash from the mining company to stay involved.

A 36-unit apartment building is set to be built on the corner of High and Clark Sts, and more than half of the units have already been snapped up.

Scorn was yesterday poured on the amount of money suggested would go into the government’s coffers by the proposed Santana Minerals gold mine.

Meridian Energy is predicting a secure power supply over winter thanks to high water levels in its hydro systems.

Petrol prices are on the slide, but it will be a while before they drop to the level they were before the Middle East conflict blew up.

Santana Minerals is standing by its water modelling and evidence produced for its gold mine project in Bendigo, saying it was standard practice in the size of these projects.

A shield well travelled.

Southland MP Joseph Mooney has been challenged to a public debate over the fast-track legislation with a social media adversary.

The shoot is on and these creatures are not running.

There seems to be an "agree to disagree" formula covering almost all issues to do with lizards at the site of Santana Minerals’ proposed $4.5 billion gold mine.

Evidence around water issues supplied by Santana Minerals has been described as a cascade of uncertainty, with a vacuum of information.

It was a set-to which descended into accusations of talking nonsense and disingenuity as a southern MP and district deputy mayor went toe-to-toe over fast-track legislation.

Santana Minerals has been accused of producing ‘‘cherry-picked’’ and ‘‘undercooked’’ heritage evidence.