The Santana open cast mining proposal should be cause for those of us who live in Central Otago to consider what form we wish our economy to take and what type of enterprises should be encouraged and facilitated in the district by our district and regional councils.
After all, the economy is there to support the community, not vice-versa.
The Santana proposal creates somewhat of a pivotal point for our economy. The choices we have between this type of mining and what has evolved in our current economy couldn’t be more contrasting.
Bendigo Station is a good example of a landscape that has evolved over the last few decades.
From an area that was fundamentally ecologically unsustainable and marginally profitable in extensive pastoral farming to a mosaic of land uses that includes lifestyle blocks growing high quality wine grapes, pastoral farming on the better land with a covenant protecting landscape and historic values and public conservation land on higher altitude tussock country and kanuka shrubland on lower hill country.
This combination of land uses has maintained Central Otago’s "World of Difference" landscape which in turn has attracted people to the area to live and to invest.
It has also created commercial opportunities in tourism for the same reason, for the aesthetic and lifestyle qualities that have been maintained and developed.
These land uses use our scarce water resources sparingly and do not threaten water quality.
They stand to be there for the long term, to be built on and enhanced and to support future generations.
Central Otago isn’t the only district in the country or the world to develop its economy on the back of protecting its natural and aesthetic qualities that make it a great place to live.
Contrast this with the open-cast mining operation of the scale proposed on Bendigo which is located slap bang in the middle of this land-use mosaic.
The effect on the existing economy will be disastrous.
Its legacy to future generations will be a giant hole in the ground, a toxic hazard in the form of a tailings dam, millions of tons of carbon emitted exacerbating climate change and an ephemeral pulse of money into the economy. All for what? For a tonne or so of gold which will go back underground in some offshore vault.
Properties that had been part of Bendigo Station were purchased for millions of dollars owing to their high-quality lifestyle and amenity values combined with the opportunities to grow high-quality wine grapes and run tourism enterprises.
These same properties will be worth millions less with the establishment of an open-cast mine of the scale proposed in close proximity, which will degrade the visual landscape, bring heavy traffic, noise and toxic dust to the area and threaten water quality.
I can’t imagine a real estate agent selling properties in Central Otago mentioning close proximity to an open-cast mine as a desirable feature.
It is time our civic leaders and decision-makers recognise what truly underpins our economy here in Central and what will sustain it in the long term.
Gold was part of our early economy but, like many other industries, was found to be unsustainable in light of our changing values and better understanding of what constitutes "sustainable".
Let’s concentrate on supporting enterprises that protect and enhance those enduring qualities for which most residents, according to the Central Otago District Council’s own survey, came here to live.
• Phil Murray is co-chairman of the Central Otago Environmental Society.
