Central Otago District Council (CODC) has confirmed it is in discussions with Santana Minerals over access to council-owned roads in the hills above Cromwell.  

In a public-excluded session at the end of a full council meeting on Wednesday (September 24), the mayor and councillors considered an agenda item related to land access arrangements with the gold mining company. 

In a statement after the meeting, council chief executive Peter Kelly said the agenda item concerned Thomson Gorge Road and the Shepherds Creek paper road, as well as land within 20 metres of those routes.  

While details of negotiations were not released – with issues of commercial sensitivity provided as the reason for secrecy - the chief executive stressed the meeting was not about resource consent or regulatory approval. 

“The Crown Minerals Act sets out the process that mining companies must follow when access to land is required. Our involvement is limited to landowner responsibilities,” Peter said. 

“Any statutory obligations under other legislation, (including the Resource Management Act, Public Works Act, or Local Government Act) remain entirely separate and unaffected by any potential access agreement.” 

He said the process of negotiating access “does not in any way predetermine or affect our regulatory decision-making responsibilities”.   

In addition, any proposal to stop a road would trigger its own statutory process, separate from the Crown Minerals Act negotiations, he said. 

The access process is also distinct from the government’s fast-track consenting pathway, which will determine if Santana Minerals gets a green light for its gold mining project. 

The closed-door meeting comes amid tensions over access to the Shepherds Creek route. 

A ‘no public access’ sign placed on a farm gate has drawn complaints from residents who said a long-used route had been blocked.  

CODC staff have said the sign sits on private land but confirmed they were in discussions with Santana about balancing safety around drilling equipment with public use of the legal road. 

Santana has said it is not preventing people from using the legal road.

However the company earlier indicated it intends to shut a section of Thomson Gorge Road if mining commences, while maintaining access to the CIT stamper battery and Department of Conservation reserves. 

It has also committed to the construction of an alternative route to enable public access to continue across the Dunstan Mountains.

The area is at the centre of Santana Mineral’s proposed Bendigo-Ophir project, which includes open-pit and underground mining operations, in a landscape the council’s district plan designates as an Outstanding Natural Landscape. 

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