Shane Jones has said he wants more mining in both the South and North Islands. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing wrong with digging another hole in Otago. Down there where the Santana mine is planned for, the place is empty, mate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s all sorts of rabbits and other pests down there, and there\u2019s a small group down there who want to pull up the ladder of opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said he wanted more mining in both the South and North Islands and dismissed what he called a \u201cCamelot, lotus land, lotus-eating view\u201d held by some South Island property owners.<\/p>\n
He said the Bendigo-Ophir project presented an opportunity for highly paid jobs, Crown revenue and export earnings at a time when gold remained an internationally sought-after store of value.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about all the jobs associated with the digger drivers, the engineers, the geologists, the technicians, God forbid the ecologists, we don\u2019t want too many of them,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re talking about a tiny little dot, akin to a beauty spot on an alabaster-faced woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amblin Entertainment\u2019s donation was announced by Sustainable Tarras on Monday. The environmental group is raising money for legal and expert costs associated with opposing the mine.<\/p>\n
The Dunstan Mountains could be home to a large gold mine between Bendigo and Ophir. Photo \/ Simon Williams<\/p>\n
The amount has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n
Sustainable Tarras chairwoman Suze Keith told Newstalk ZB earlier this week that the group was overwhelmed by the contribution and that Spielberg had thought to reach out after Neill\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sam effect is quite something. People really cared for him and saw him as just a great New Zealander, and we were lucky enough to benefit from that,\u201d Keith said.<\/p>\n
Neill died in Sydney on July 13, aged 78.<\/p>\n
His representatives had encouraged those wanting to honour him to donate to causes close to his heart, including Sustainable Tarras.<\/p>\n
Sir Sam Neill, owner of the Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago, died on July 13. His representatives encouraged those wanting to honour him to donate to causes close to his heart, including Sustainable Tarras. Photo \/ James Beech<\/p>\n
Neill had campaigned strongly against the Bendigo-Ophir project and earlier this year appeared at a Sustainable Tarras fundraiser alongside Central Otago artist Sir Grahame Sydney.<\/p>\n
He argued that the proposed mine threatened the landscape and existing wine and tourism industries, while saying he was not opposed to mining in general.<\/p>\n
The issue had previously sparked a public spat between Neill and Jones.<\/p>\n
After Neill criticised the mine proposal, Jones accused him of using his celebrity status to advance anti-mining views and questioned his connection to the region.<\/p>\n
Neill said later that the minister had chosen to make the dispute personal, and revealed that he had received online abuse and threats of violence after speaking out.<\/p>\n
Listen to Hamish McKay interview Shane Jones on The Country below.<\/p>\n
Spielberg directed Neill in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, a role which made the New Zealand actor internationally synonymous with palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant.<\/p>\n
After Neill\u2019s death, Spielberg paid tribute to his longtime colleague, saying he would remain part of their \u201cJurassic family\u201d.<\/p>\n
Santana Minerals\u2019 Bendigo-Ophir proposal would establish an open-pit and underground gold mine across Bendigo and Ardgour Stations, about 20km north of Cromwell.<\/p>\n
The project is being considered by an expert consenting panel under the Government\u2019s Fast-track Approvals Act. A decision is not expected until January.<\/p>\n
Santana says the mine could produce about 120,000 ounces of gold a year, provide up to 300 jobs and generate about $6 billion in revenue and more than $1b in taxes and royalties.<\/p>\n
Opponents have raised concerns about effects on water, biodiversity, the landscape and Central Otago\u2019s existing wine and tourism industries.<\/p>\n
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Jones has said he wants more mining in both the South and North Islands. Photo \/ Sylvie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[438497,3204,64,63,438496,447,505,92458,97991,438499,134,219144,56958,104460,41690,5284,8812,1973,191,106056,4443,62900,50029,128856,8936,8123,102587,47991,217754,438498,71090,155136],"class_list":["post-870051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-accusing","tag-around","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bendigoophir","tag-celebrities","tag-central","tag-controversial","tag-donation","tag-dough","tag-entertainment","tag-et","tag-fate","tag-filmmaker","tag-go","tag-gold","tag-heavyweight","tag-hollywood","tag-home","tag-influence","tag-jones","tag-mine","tag-minister","tag-otago","tag-over","tag-resources","tag-said","tag-shane","tag-spielberg","tag-spraying","tag-steven","tag-tells"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}