{"id":405669,"date":"2026-04-30T21:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/405669\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:59:08","slug":"proposed-gold-mine-will-ruin-otagos-reputation-for-worlds-best-pinot-noir-vineyard-owner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/405669\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed gold mine will ruin Otago\u2019s reputation for world\u2019s best pinot noir – vineyard owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s the scale of it, it\u2019s the nature of it, it\u2019s the permanence, it\u2019s the intergenerational effects and the toxicity that remains forever that makes this completely inappropriate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Johnston said he was proud to put the Bendigo label on his wines but the area\u2019s reputation for world-class pinot noir was at risk of being lost.<\/p>\n

He told the panel he sought expert advice from a Griffith University tourism and marketing professor who advised that every part of his wine production and sales, events, wine tourism and accommodation business would suffer \u201cirreparable and ultimately terminal damage\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, co-existence would reduce customer demand and ultimately kill my business,\u201d Johnston said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll completely blow the wind out of my sails. It would be a depressing future to know that it\u2019s going to get harder and harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CanyonCanyon Vineyard owner Hayden Johnston. Photo \/ RNZ, Tess Brunton<\/p>\n

Santana Minerals has previously said the project would employ hundreds of people and be worth $6 billion in revenue and more than $1b in taxes and royalties for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Some local residents have backed the mine and have formed a Santana Mine Supporters group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fast-track panel also heard from resident Holger Reinecke, who lives in a historic woolshed restored as a home in 2002.<\/p>\n

He said he was worried about the company\u2019s disaster preparedness plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d just like to note my astonishment as to how little consideration has been given to the seismic risks residing in the Dunstan mountains and further afield emanating from the Alpine Fault,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reinecke said he and his wife decided to sell their property for personal reasons last year but buyers were wary of its proximity to the mine site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some buyers are willing to consider properties further from the proposed access route, properties situated directly on or on the access route are encountering strong resistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Trevathan family, who live under the proposed tailings dam, expressed concern about a catastrophic failure.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s solicitor Bridget Irving told the panel that Santana Minerals\u2019 application lacked detail and was not decision-ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe location of this mine proposal is not in a remote, unpopulated, expansive or flat area as might be found, for example, in Australia or South Africa,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople do live downstream and loss of life is foreseeable if the worst was to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santana Minerals has previously said its application reflected years of detailed technical and environmental work<\/a> and the fast-track process would not reduce scrutiny or standards.<\/p>\n

Company lawyer Joshua Leckie was asked by panel chair Matthew Muir KC whether residents should be considered \u201ccollateral damage\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re to be regarded as collateral damage. Their views are still relevant to your considerations,\u201d Leckie said.<\/p>\n

Leckie said Santana Minerals was committed to engaging with the mine\u2019s neighbours and it would consider the suggestion of compensation.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s management plans were sufficient to deal with the impacts, including a catastrophic event, but that would be something to explore further through the fast-track process of expert conferencing this month, Leckie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an appropriate level of baseline information in the technical assessments and the evidence that\u2019s been filed at this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leckie said issues of mana whenua engagement were a key priority for the company as its application progressed.<\/p>\n

The fast-track panel was expected to make a final decision on the mine in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s the scale of it, it\u2019s the nature of it, it\u2019s the permanence, it\u2019s the intergenerational effects and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3390,2082,4241,22504,57537,111,43,139,208918,69,21518,2738,130932,29056,30618,152796,22505,21538,1533,17450],"class_list":["post-405669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-best","tag-for","tag-gold","tag-katie","tag-mine","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-noir","tag-nz","tag-otagos","tag-owner","tag-pinot","tag-proposed","tag-reputation","tag-ruin","tag-todd","tag-vineyard","tag-will","tag-worlds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}