Santana Minerals’ Bendigo site, touted as New Zealand’s newest major gold discovery, could be part of New Zealand’s "export-led recovery", Mr Jones said.
He had been advised the project would create $300million to $400million worth of export revenue for the Otago economy, plus 200 jobs.
And Mr Jones said he told company directors to "put their best foot forward".
Last week, in an open letter Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said the Fast-track Approvals Bill, being moved through Parliament under urgency, was "about green-lighting developments that our current environmental protections prohibit".
Yesterday, Forest & Bird Otago-Southland regional conservation manager Chelsea McGaw said the organisation had noted the Bendigo mine as one of the government’s potential fast track projects.
Mr Jones said yesterday he was hosted in Central Otago by Santana Minerals’ chief executive Damian Spring and non-executive chairman Peter Cook.
At the site, he met a large team of geologists, drillers and engineers.
As minister, he had already been briefed on Santana Minerals’ Bendigo project, but being at Bendigo Station at the beginning of the month showed him how "do-able" the project was.
"I was at pains to say to them the responsibility for mobilising capital and dealing with the sharemarket community, including the regulators, that’s purely in their province of responsibility," Mr Jones said.
"I could only tell them the truth — and the truth is we want economic development, we want an export-led recovery.
"Gold mining is a legitimate part of our narrative to grow the economy.
"And I’ve encouraged them to participate in the process and put their best foot forward."
Mr Jones said the "triaging" for fast-track projects would be with an independent panel.
The independent panel would receive project applications and would give advice to Cabinet over the next six to eight weeks.
"It would be foolish of me to predetermine it, but they [Santana Minerals] are more than entitled to step up to the plate with their proposal, discuss it with the individual members of the panel ... and go through the process.
"The fact that they’ve already engaged with me in my office and I’ve been out to see the potential site at Bendigo is positive, it’s transparent, it’s open — that’s how politics works in New Zealand."
With regard to potential concerns about biodiversity loss, for example skinks in the area, he said translocations or pest control work could be employed to ensure no net loss.
"I don’t know what sort of other critters there might be running around on the Bendigo, but we’re not going to have a situation where these creatures are either deified or weaponised to prevent economic development — we’ve had 30 years of that."
In a statement shortly after Mr Jones’ visit, Santana Minerals said the compelling commercial case presented through its initial mining assessment had propelled the company to move directly into pre-feasibility studies.
Yesterday, Mr Spring said the company was honoured to host Mr Jones at the site.
"We are currently focused on doing all the work required to develop this project into a world-class long-life, environmentally sustainable gold mine, bringing jobs and prosperity to the Central Otago region and New Zealand.
"We are engaging with mana whenua and our local community and understanding the land and water and how we can make sure the mine adds net environmental benefits to the wider area."
Ms McGaw said Forest & Bird would need to see an assessment of environmental effects to be able to provide specific commentary "and gauge our level of concern".
However, she expressed concern about both pest control and translocation being raised as a means to avoid a net environmental loss.
Translocating species was always "risky, variable and generally unsuccessful", especially for the lizards, invertebrates and native vegetation that would need to be translocated as part of this development.
Another "big risk" of mining in the area was the higher level of arsenic in central Otago schist and the effect the project could have on ground and surface water quality as well, she said.
