Sustainable Tarras, which has been a vocal opponent of Santana Mineral Ltd’s plans for a massive gold mine in the area, declined to comment.
But third-generation Tarras resident Mark Davidson told the Otago Daily Times opposition to the company’s plans was all about nimbyism.
He supported mining in the district.
"Bring it on.
"What does New Zealand need?
"We need money and employment.
"It’s all been mined before."
Mr Davidson said his father, who was born in 1929, recalled as a child seeing the lights of the miners coming off the Shine, where the proposed Santana Rise and Shine mine would be.
"Now, I come home in the dark and look up there and see the lights of the drilling rigs, so nothing’s changed, it’s just a generation later."
Vineyard owners complaining about their fear of mining affecting the industry should remember most of their vineyards were on, or were next to, land that had been mined in the 1800s using mercury to extract gold at a time when no-one cared about the environment, he said.
Modern miners would be held to a higher environmental standard and that would be part of their consent conditions.
Sustainable Tarras and those opposed to the mine are concerned about damage and threats to the environment from the mine should it go ahead, including fossil fuel use and the risk of chemicals leaching into waterways. Some of the land to be mined has a conservation covenant on it.
Mr Davidson said the same people opposing the mine were against the proposed airport at Tarras and a large proposed irrigation scheme.
"If they’d been around in the ’80s they’d have been against the Clyde Dam.
"They’re just anti-anything aside from what they do."
When vineyards were first established in Tarras they were not popular, Mr Davidson said.
"They turned up with helicopters for frost-fighting and wind machines for frost-fighting and bird guns and shot guns scaring birds — they weren’t that popular themselves. They’ve got very short memories."
Radio Central owner and Cromwell Football Club president Shane Norton said through his work in the only radio station that covered all of Central Otago, he believed 99% of people in the region were in favour of the proposed gold mine.
"Every time there is a negative comment [on social media], everyone’s going ‘start digging’.
"From what I’ve seen and the events that I’ve been to, it’s overwhelmingly in support of the mine."
Jobs were one of the biggest reasons people were keen on the project, along with the opportunity to improve the country’s infrastructure using mining royalties.
The $1.6 billion in royalties and taxes expected to go directly to the government would pay for an awful lot of much-needed medical facilities, housing and water and sewerage upgrades, Mr Norton said.
Santana had already been doing a huge amount in the community, including sponsoring the Central Lakes football league, which boasted 16 men’s and four women’s teams.
