Santana Minerals clears overseas investment hurdle for its $500 million Central Otago gold mine, with the fast-track decision now due in October
Australian explorer Santana Minerals has cleared one of the biggest regulatory hurdles standing between it and the country’s largest planned new gold mine, with the Overseas Investment Office today approving the company’s purchase of around 3,680 hectares of freehold land across Bendigo and Ardgour Stations in Central Otago. The decision moves the proposed Bendigo-Ophir project a step closer to construction and turns attention to the parallel fast-track resource consent process, where a final ruling is due by 29 October.
The OIO approval clears the way for Santana, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the code SMI, to take ownership of the land needed for four open-pit mines, a processing plant, administration buildings, tailings storage and a substantial offsetting package that includes 1,200 hectares of native planting and habitat enhancement near Cromwell. The consent is conditional on the company settling the full purchase by the end of 2026 and on it ultimately winning fast-track approval to build and operate the mine.
Santana said today that the project carries a capital investment of more than $500 million across an expected 13 to 14 year operating life, with about 350 full-time equivalent positions during construction and steady-state operations. Average salaries on site are projected at around $140,000, and the company estimates the mine would contribute roughly $360 million a year to gross domestic product, or about $5.8 billion across its full life. Chief executive Damien Spring told reporters that Cromwell is well placed to benefit, with most workers expected to live in the surrounding area rather than fly in and out.
The deposit itself has been the subject of more than a decade of exploration drilling and is now considered one of the most significant new gold prospects in the country. Santana has reported reserves under the Joint Ore Reserves Committee code of 15 million tonnes at a grade of 2.58 grams per tonne, for a total of about 1.24 million ounces of contained gold. A pre-feasibility study published last year sketched out peak production of 120,000 ounces a year, drawn from four open pits with the largest stretching roughly a kilometre long, 800 metres wide and 200 metres deep. With gold trading at record highs, the company has previously said the project’s net present value has lifted well above the $4.4 billion mark cited when the application was first lodged.
The Bendigo-Ophir tenements cover 251 square kilometres in the heart of the Central Otago goldfields, about 90 kilometres north-west of OceanaGold’s long-running Macraes mine, the country’s largest gold producer. If approvals fall into place, Santana is targeting first production in early 2028, which would make it the first significant new gold mine to open in New Zealand in well over a decade.
Markets have responded positively to the company’s steady regulatory progress. Santana shares closed yesterday on the ASX at around A$1.09, up roughly 130 percent on the same day a year earlier, with the global gold price rally and clearer New Zealand pathway both feeding investor optimism. The company has been one of the better performing small-cap resource stocks on the Australian market over the past year and is closely watched by Kiwi investors who hold the stock through trans-Tasman brokers.
The project remains divisive within Central Otago itself. Local body elected members and tourism operators have warned about visual impact, water use and the precedent set by approving large-scale mining inside a fast-growing wine and lifestyle district, and actor Sam Neill, a long-time Otago resident, has been one of the most prominent public opponents. A pro-mine group, made up largely of Cromwell tradespeople and contractors, has countered with petitions claiming several thousand signatures of support, arguing the region needs the wage base and rates revenue that a project of this scale would generate.
The fast-track process running in parallel is the bigger of the two remaining tests. Under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, ministers and an expert panel must weigh whether the environmental effects of the project are proportionate to its regional and national benefits, with a 140 working day statutory clock that finishes on 29 October. Submissions on environmental management, tailings safety, dust and water are now in front of the panel, alongside Santana’s economic case for the mine.
For now, today’s OIO decision is a clear signal that the foreign investment side of the project is no longer in doubt. The harder questions about whether large-scale gold mining belongs in Central Otago will be settled in October.
Tell us what you think in the comments below. Should New Zealand be opening up new gold mines like Bendigo-Ophir, or is the country’s economic future better served by tourism, wine and the natural landscapes that draw visitors to Central Otago in the first place?