Santana mine would be of great value to Otago
As a geologist (a graduate of the University of Otago) with a long career in Australian gold mining, I would like to comment on Santana’s project.
The discovery of the Rise and Shine orebody is a fantastic discovery and will generate huge returns for the shareholders (including many Kiwis), employees and the New Zealand economy.
There is more than $NZ10 billion worth of gold in a relatively shallow lode zone, 1700m long, by 200m wide, by 30m thick. Under the revised royalty scheme the value to New Zealand is significant.
Just walk around Dunedin for an hour and see the amazing historical wealth generated by gold mining. In 2023–24 the mining industry in Australia paid $32.5b in company tax and $26.9b in royalties. Enough to pay for the entire public health system.
I have been involved with numerous gold operations in Australia.
Our mining industry is the best regulated, with strict operating, environmental and rehabilitation standards.
Scaremongering about chemicals is completely wrong. Cyanide used for gold recovery is an unstable natural compound. It breaks down in ultraviolet light. The design utilises a cyanide destruction plant which is a step above Australian practices.
Modern mining is highly efficient and safe. Mine tailings will in a valley behind a massive dam/waste dump and could not be more geotechnically stable.
I compare this to the widespread residential and commercial development in Central Otago I have seen occur in my lifetime. This will never be reversed.
The geology of New Zealand means that these deposits are not frequent. It’s not likely that this type of mine will be common.
Everyone is of course entitled to an opinion. Mine is that this is a great project for New Zealand.
Atrocity exhibition
Despite a veneer of erudition, Paul Foster-Bell’s opinion piece on Iran (ODT 11.3.26) is deeply unconvincing.
What he appears to be advocating is for Iran to return to being a client state of the United States, probably under the kind of dictatorship that was in power from 1953-79, following the overthrow of Mossadegh’s elected government by the British and Americans in 1953 (in the wake of its attempt to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company).
Without providing any evidence, Foster-Bell makes the fantastical claim that within Iran there is "outright rejoicing" at the current US/Israeli airstrikes and — again without providing evidence — he suggests that Iran was working towards the production of a nuclear weapon. Such fantasies are the stuff of Trumpian delusion.
Moreover, he fails to acknowledge the widespread atrocities recently committed against Iranians as a result of the US attack.
White line fever
Our Dunedin City councillors continue to have difficulty containing spending. They need an alternative revenue stream and I have one.
On recent travels in Scotland we noted every council-owned parking facility had large signage detailing the penalty for parking on or over the white lines of designated spaces. The fine was a whopping £50 and instant, no debate.
I thought it a splendid way of gathering income and also a great tool with which to retrain drivers in courtesy to others. This revenue would go a long way to paying for vanity cycleways on the peninsula given the level of existing infringement.
Factory closures mean we need nuclear option
The closures at Wattie’s, Gregg’s and the Kinleith mill are a worrying trend.
We cannot compete on labour costs: Bangladesh makes T-shirts cheaper than we ever will. Even that argument has a use-by date. Within a generation, AI and robotics will strip labour costs out of manufacturing. Then, the only thing separating a factory in Dhaka from one in Dunedin is the price of energy and raw materials.
If we want to make anything here, or attract the data centres that will power the next economy, we need cheap, abundant electricity. What we have instead is a market deliberately run at just-enough supply, that suits the generators, no-one else.
We also need an honest conversation about nuclear. The 1980s ban covered weapons and nuclear-powered vessels. It never covered power generation. Somehow it morphed over the decades into a ban on everything nuclear. While other countries are building small modular reactors, we're the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, still arguing about whether the topic is even allowed.
We've been here before. Twenty years ago we talked about becoming a world data centre hub. Nothing came of it. The same opportunity is returning, and we're arranging to miss it again.
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