Bendigo Station in Central Otago. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Australian mining company Santana Minerals has bought part of a famed Central Otago station, in what it calls a big step forward for its proposed Bendigo-Ophir gold mine.
Through its New Zealand subsidiary Matakanui Gold Limited, Santana Minerals has signed a binding agreement to buy parcels of land totalling just under nine square kilometres at Bendigo Station - the former home of Shrek the sheep - for $55 million.
The company was poised to submit a fast-track consent application for the open-cast mine, which it claimed could deliver $5 billion in regional economic benefits.
Santana Minerals said purchase was subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Overseas Investment Office.
The sale replaced an earlier agreement that would have provided the station's owners with 1.25 per cent in production royalties, the company said.
Bendigo Station owner John Perriam said he initially wanted to retain control of the land by leasing it to Santana Minerals rather than selling it.
Bendigo Station owner John Perriam said he had decided to step aside and trust the government process. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
"Seeing the benefits the Clyde Dam has brought to Cromwell and Central Otago and the rigorous process that new age goldmines have to go through, I have decided to stand aside and put trust into the New Zealand government process," he said.
"The land sold is approximately only 10 percent of Bendigo Station but the predicted benefits for our regional economy estimated at over $5 billion is something I didn't feel I had the right to stand in the path of."
Santana Minerals said the land included just under eight square kilometres for the planned open pits, waste dump and supporting infrastructure and just under one kilometre specifically for water infrastructure.
Earlier this year the company also signed a binding agreement to buy the nearby 28 square kilometre Ardgour Station - a beef and sheep property - for $25 million.
Santana chief executive Damian Spring said the purchase would allow the Perriam family to pursue new opportunities while enabling the company to advance one of New Zealand's most significant gold developments in decades.
"We are excited that this gold boom has the potential to once again ignite prosperity across the region, much like the original gold rush of the 1860s from which the region still prospers, one that drove population growth and industrial development in Central Otago," he said.
Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd
Perriam, who had retired to Millbrook with his wife, said he was considering starting a charitable trust or foundation to support medical services for local people.
He said Bendigo Station was now run by his sons, Stewart and Daniel, while his daughter Christina and her husband Callum owned and operated the Tarras Village retail precinct.
Some Central Otago residents had voiced strong opposition to the mine, arguing it was an unsuitable project for fast-tracking and could harm existing industries and the natural environment.
The Environmental Defence Society challenged Santana Minerals' projected economic benefits, saying the company needed to provide more detail about what the mine might cost the community, not just what it could contribute.
It said Santana Minerals should offer a large cash bond to protect communities if anything went wrong.
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