A clear split has emerged over how quickly the proposed Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project should be assessed, with government agencies and councils pushing for a significantly longer decision-making period than the default setting under fast-track legislation.

The divide follows the release of documents and video footage from a panel convener conference late last week, where attendees also challenged what they described as slow information-sharing and a lack of meaningful engagement by the mining company ahead of the application being lodged.

Otago Regional Council principal consents planner Shay McDonald told the conference it would require “no less than 140 working days” to properly assess the 9,400-page application.

“The application is substantial in scale and is technically complex,” Shay said.

“There are likely to be a relatively large number of principal issues in contention.”

Central Otago District Council also supported an extended timeframe, recommending a minimum of 120 working days.

Legal counsel Jayne Macdonald said the council considered a longer timeframe was required given both the scale of the proposal and the state of engagement between the applicant and other parties.

She said pre-lodgement engagement had been “limited and fragmented”, with repeated requests made for a description of the proposal, draft application and draft Assessment of Environmental Effects to help inform the council's own experts.

Jayne said technical information was released progressively, but represented only a subset of the documents ultimately submitted, while some requests for expert site visits “could not be accommodated”.

Representatives of DOC echoed these concerns, citing requested information from the mining company was slow to come and some site visits cancelled.

In its memorandum, DOC said the scale of potential ecological effects was “potentially unprecedented”.

“For example, more than 100,000 absolutely protected lizards are likely to be impacted, with the majority expected to be killed and the remainder disturbed and/or translocated,” DOC said.

The department also said proposals to relocate rare plants at that scale were untested in the local environment, while Central Otago’s dry conditions posed additional challenges for water management and the mitigation of adverse effects on aquifers and aquatic ecosystems.

Representing local Māori interests, Kā Rūnaka expressed “deep and immutable concern” about the breadth and longevity of the project’s effects, including long-term risks associated with hazardous substance storage.

"For Kā Rūnaka, effects on their cultural values or te taiao are incapable of being 'offset' or being otherwise mitigated – those effects are there, regardless of the wording which may be placed around them to make them appear less. In Kā Rūnaka’s view, the effects arising from this application are significant, and permanent," the group said.

Kā Rūnaka also said the developer’s engagement to date had fallen short of consultation expectations.

“Kā Rūnaka considers the approach taken by the applicant does not fulfil consultation requirements, and any efforts made are insufficient gestures taken in order to ostensibly fulfil legislative requirements, ” it said.

Matakanui Gold, the applicant and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santana Minerals, offered a different view during the conference, with legal counsel saying the company had “extensively engaged and consulted with relevant administering authorities, iwi, key stakeholders and the community, and continues to do so”.

In the cases of CODC and DOC, they said regular meetings had been happening since 2017.

They said prior to lodging its application the mining company had undertaken 56 community drop-in sessions and presented its plans to more than 25 local organisations and businesses.

However, community group Sustainable Tarras said the newly released documents reflected its own experience of the process.

“We are not at all surprised, but remain highly concerned,” a spokesperson said.

The proposal is being considered under the Fast-track Consenting Act.

Santana Minerals initially sought a 30-working-day decision period, later indicating it would accept 60 working days for its proposed underground and open-cast gold mine above Cromwell.

Read more: Bendigo gold mine decision-making time under debate

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