The CEO of Santana’s enthusiasm for his chosen profession is understandable, as is the litany of explanations and excuses for the many side effects of open cast mining.
I do not doubt his belief in the benefits of the Bendigo-Ophir proposal to Santana’s shareholders, to the New Zealand government, and to the region.
But there are many who think and feel differently. And those many who do have a different opinion to Mr Spring and his supporters are not the enemy, are not ignorant, are not blinkered Luddites standing in the way of progress, deserving only of dismissal, ridicule or gutless social media threats.
Nor are they what Shane Jones of the "pro-extraction New Zealand First party" calls "aristocratic and elitist" types, a narrow caste of wannabe kings and queens who regard themselves as exclusive landlords of the Otago Manor.
They do not consider these hills to be "vacant" and by implication useless or without significance.
They are instead simply individuals who see this proposal from another point of view, who care deeply about things Mr Spring overlooks or cares less about, who want something for this region which is not what he wants, and who genuinely believe Central Otago would be a better place without it.
There are as many attitudes towards a landscape as there are separate personalities. For example, farmers regard land and what it means quite unlike the way a 12th floor city apartment-dweller thinks of it — for one its custody and management is the foundation of their (and often their succeeding generations) livelihood; for the other it may be the theatre of dreams and rejuvenating escape.
A miner looks at the land and wonders what lies beneath, and how he can best profit from getting his hands on it.
Many don’t think of it at all. They don’t care — their lives are preoccupied with trying to get by as best they can where they are.
But many do care. Many feel the landscape is an integral element in how they understand themselves, how they identify — as Otago-ites, as southerners, as New Zealanders — and that the land which surrounds them, which they love, and in which they choose to spend their lives in some way defines them, is a part of them and matters a great deal to them — just as it is.
They feel the privilege of belonging to that landscape, they see the value in it even if that value is so difficult to explain and cannot be tagged with a dollar sign. The profound sense of belonging to a place is immediate and instinctive for some, grows through decades of exposure for others, but it is real and true. The wish to protect it is heartfelt.
Crucial questions we should all be asking are: "Is this mine necessary?" and, "Does the benefit to Kiwis justify the appalling permanent damage?"
For more gold? When there are tens of thousands of tonnes stockpiled in government vaults, banks and private hands around the world, how important is it ? Nearly half of the annual production of gold winds up in jewellery.
Employment? Of course there will be new employment opportunities, but Central Otago has a very low unemployment rate, and few workers for Santana will be drawn from the unemployed pool.
They will come in from elsewhere, or leave their current local jobs, and housing pressure will inevitably increase, as will housing costs.
What about the government’s take? It is material here to remember that a corporate’s primary responsibility is to maximise profit for its shareholders — that is its stated legal duty before all else. Not to benefit the local community, not to protect or consider environmental impacts, but to maximise profit. Shareholders first.
The government — custodian of in-earth minerals on behalf of its citizens, not the owner of them — gets a slice once the corporate has covered its costs and sailed into the black. The slice is 2% royalties of net sales, or 10% of declared profit, whichever is the greatest.
The gold at Bendigo-Ophir has been estimated at over $6.5 billion. Over the life of the mine the government expects a total payday of $1.5b, none of it promised to Central Otago or infrastructural needs in the South.
Five for you, Santana, one and a-half for me as the government. Not guaranteed, mind you.
And as we know, the similar Oceana Gold mine at Macraes pays significantly less. In some years they pay no taxes at all.
It is therefore a really bad deal for the nation, and especially lousy for Central Otago.
Here’s an analogy. Say I own a house worth $2 million. Inside there’s a collection of art and antiques handed down through generations and worth maybe $4m. An Australian knocks at my door and says "I want your house. And its contents. We’ll have to destroy it, but we’ll leave you what’s left. I’ll give you $461,000 for it all."
That is the deal on offer. Santana Minerals takes the vast proportion of the value, we are left with the mutilation — forever. The Bendigo project is just one of many similarly brutal gold grabs on the cards in this region.
The Fast Track legislation deliberately diminishes local council and community input, and ends the slow plod through the Environment Court which used to buy time for serious consideration of a major footprint project like Bendigo-Ophir. The precedent set by any approval for this scheme would be frightening.
Santana’s plan covers a presently unmodified natural hillscape roughly 8km long by 3km wide, four major open pits, a 1km-long processing plant, a 2km-long tailings dam, incessant blasting, all-night floodlighting, God knows how many trucks on 30m-wide haul roads, many worrying unknowns around the toxic residues used in the processing, and the potential threat they pose to our streams rivers and lakes.
It will need as much electricity as nearby Cromwell itself, will use 10-15 million litres of diesel, and Santana have applied for rights to take 396,000 litres of water per hour from a nearby aquifer.
That is 9.5 million litres every 24 hours. And where will that used water go?
The devastation to this corner of our precious Central Otago landscape will be everlasting and visible from a main road, an unwelcome legacy of the industrial invasion of a rare and priceless commodity. The very look of our district, beloved by so many and the essential foundation of its flourishing tourist appeal.
This Bendigo mine would be a close-range shotgun blast to the face of the unique landscape of our region, a vast gaping wound for which there will be no stitching repair, no plastic surgery disguise. What a depressing and regrettable gift to future generations that would be.
Like Mr Spring I have faith in the panel appointed alongside Judge Borthwick to consider consenting or rejecting this proposal.
Meantime Santana will persist with its determined PR campaign, its shareholders will be rubbing their hands with glee (while the gold price stays up), and those of us who love this place for reasons money cannot measure will be hoping common sense will prevail.
• Sir Grahame Sydney is an artist who lives in the Cambrian Valley.
