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I’m with Sam. Weapons-grade mining? No thanks. The last thing Otago and Aotearoa need is another big toxic gold mine. The fast-tracked mine is proposed by Australian miners Santana Minerals at Bendigo Ophir in Central Otago near Wanaka and it would be a nightmare for the region. The mine would be of a similar scale to Macraes Mine in East Otago and one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. An independent study shows that the mine can expect 10kg of Arsenic per tonne of ore. Along with Sam Neill, the people of Otago are rising up against the mine because they know it will be a NIGHTMARE for the region and for Aotearoa. The mine would have four open pits, one of which will be 1 km wide by at least 200m deep, left forever. There would be a 1km-long processing plant where rock is crushed and up to 1,900kg of cyanide is used each day with huge amounts stored on site. They’d consume up to 9.5 million litres of water a day for the plant. The toxic tailings dam, further up in the hills that slope down to the Lindis and Clutha rivers would be 2 km long and contain the equivalent of 10,000 olympic swimming pools of toxic sludge. All this would release significantly more arsenic, lead and other toxic elements into the environment than the gold extracted. There is a risk of long-term acid mine drainage. The arsenic from gold mines in Australia has been linked to serious health issues, including increased cancer rates in local populations. The mine would burn 10-15 million litres of diesel a year to fuel their machinery, including for trucks they describe as “10 times the size of a normal truck.” The initial proposal is that the mine will operate around the clock for 14 years, although many mines in New Zealand and elsewhere keep prospecting and seeking further extensions. Santana has signalled its intention to the industry to keep prospecting to expand “opportunities”. All this damage so an Australian mining company can rake in the profits and leave the mess behind. #sustainabletarras #otago #nzpol #samneill