The goldmine project in Bendigo had been paused in the fast-track process on Thursday by the hearing panel after the applicant requested it.
In a note to the Australian stock exchange, Santana said it had decided to volunteer a pause period to enable the provision of additional data, reports and time to workshop conditions with the regulators, all in support of the application, while remaining in the Fast-track Approvals Act statutory timeframe.
The applicant had received a request for further information (RFI) from the hearing panel late on Thursday.
The six pages of requests cover a lot of subjects and with a deadline of July 9 to supply the material, Santana will not have time to waste.
Under the heading of water it was asked to provide further information to understand the downstream’s baseline environment including water quality and aquatic ecology.
The applicant has been asked to assess the risk of toxic effects to wildlife and humans arising from poor water quality in any surface water.
The panel said evidence from herpetologist Mandy Tocher showed over the long-term, survival rates of relocated lizards were expected to be very low.
There was general expert agreement — including Santana expert witnesses — the area and habitat types of the current proposed enclosures were not sufficient to address the effects on the lizards.
Santana was asked by the panel what consideration it had given to other alternative approaches.
The panel used substantially larger pest fenced areas or alternative locations as examples.
The consensus of experts was the transferring of spring annuals — plants that complete their entire life cycle in a single season — was experimental and its success was likely unknown.
The panel asked what was a suitable measure of success for rehabilitation and if it was not successful what was the alternative form of compensation.
Santana had been asked to clarify details around the heritage and ecology fund, and the bond and trust management fund.
Santana also had to answer whether the public would be indemnified against the cost of long-term low-risk high-consequence outcomes beyond the mine closure and bond repayment.
The panel said the current conditions did not adequately address cultural impacts and asked how Santana intended to address these adverse effects.
The panel said it found it unusual for a project of this size not to have included a social impact assessment.
At a hearing last week, Santana expert witness planner Mark Crisp said there was an attempt by the company to produce a social impact assessments report but it did not come to anything and was not done well.
That people in Cromwell were not aware of it showed how ineffective it was, Mr Crisp said.
The information given to the panel was enough to form the social impact of the mine, he said.
The panel also asked economic questions around net present value.
Santana had to advise projected earnings, the level of debt and interest payments on an annual basis for the life of the project.
Should Santana not supply the materials by July 9, the panel would proceed as if the request for information had been declined.
