As you sat down to your last Rotary meeting on the 14th, I was rolling into Murchison after leaving Reefton on a five-day bikepacking adventure known as the BFLP — the Big Finish Line Party. It’s a unique event where the only rule is to be in Reefton by 5pm on Saturday; riders can choose their own route, pace, and start time.

 

Three of us from Central took part, covering around 500 km in total. Our biggest day saw nearly nine hours of riding and 2,300 metres of climbing! We traversed some iconic trails — the Old Ghost Road, Paparoa Track, Pike29, and the new Kawatiri route from Westport to Charleston.

 

I think some of you would enjoy the Kawatiri Track (weather permitting!).

 

What struck me most was how fortunate we are here in Central Otago. The West Coast’s recent heavy weather left slips, fallen trees, and washed-out sections of track — reminders that our own trails are remarkably resilient in comparison (see picture below).

 

Back on home ground now, October is racing by and there’s plenty happening. A big thank you to Jillian and the Directors for keeping things running smoothly while I was away.

We have a busy few months ahead:

We also received a lovely letter of thanks from Clyde Hospital for the fridge we donated following our Rotary Dinner — well done again to the whole team.

 

In our recent member survey, all respondents supported continuing our three major fundraisers — great confirmation that we’re on the right track. Thank you to those who took the time to reply (just over a quarter of the club).

 

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one message standing out: “Don’t change for the sake of changing.” We’ll discuss the results further at the next Directors’ meeting.  

 

 

www. liferenomedic.com

email: liferenomedic @gmail.com

 

 

Erika is a part time GP in Alexandra and specialises in ‘Healthy aging’ and taking control of our health span.

 

 

Margaret aged 89                    

Looks in her 70’s                     

Active gardener                        

 

Volunteer

Plays with grand children

 

not active

basically waiting to die

 

Erika says that people have more control over their lives than they think.

With 64% of people, lifestyle factors are important along with daily choices.

Whereas with 36% of people, genetics and luck play a part (these are factors out of our control)

 

There are people who are ‘super agers’, have good brain health, and mental wellbeing and grey matter comparable to people 20 to 30 years younger.

 

Movement matters along with resistance training, light dumbbells etc. as well as meditative movement, yoga etc. Dual task training, dancing, walking while conversing.

 

The essentials for good health include:

‘Quality sleep’, ‘Good food – proteins, nutrients, vitamins, omega 3’, ‘Social connection’.

 

For mental health, it is not too late to start looking after yourself, but the earlier the better.

Quick self-assessment: balance on one foot for 10 seconds, get up off a chair without support, try fast walking, try recalling what you had for dinner two nights ago etc.

 

Your action plan: 1. Easy wins, 2. Medium commitment, 3. Bigger commitment.

 

 

 

 

The presentation was by Rob Van der Mark as a member of the ‘Sustainable Tarras’ organisation. This organisation focuses on concerns about the proposed airport at Tarras and the Santana gold mine project. Rob said that his relationship with Santana had deteriorated over time. Santana has to report to its Australian shareholders and to the ASX, but there is little feedback locally.

 

Rob showed pictures of open cast goldmines elsewhere (picture below) to illustrate the impact of heavy machinery used in this type of mining on the landscape, compared to alluvial mining such as that at Miller’s Flat. With open cast hard rock mining the rock excavated is pulverised and then submerged in cyanide tanks to extract the gold. This has major concerns related to tailings and rock slurry.

 

The current high gold price is creating a desire to revisit old mine areas and exploratory drilling is occurring in Omakau, Ophir and sites in places like Lowburn and Bannockburn. This potential proliferation is a major concern for these areas.

 

Currently there are six companies looking at operating in Otago, but Santana is the flagship operation. There is potential for the landscape to change drastically if all these operations go ahead.

 

Rob showed pictures of the areas where Santana intends to operate in Bendigo around the 'Battery Hill' and 'Come in Time' battery sites and commented on the impact to various creeks in the area. Modern day mining will involve excavating seams 50 to 60 metres below the surface with the subsequent impact of millions of tons of waste rock. There will also be cyanide tanks and pits up to 1 kilometre long.

 

To illustrate, Rob showed diagrams of the Macraes mine in east Otago and commented that the Santana operation would eventually have about 15 kilometres of tunnels many of which would be above major acquifers. The mill will have crushers which will require a significant power supply to run and large cyanide tanks will be needed to leach out the gold from the crushed rocks. Also, after the gold has been extracted, the slurry will contain arsenic and cyanide and will be stored in a tailings dam. This slurry is then treated with lime.

 

Tailing dams can seep acid through drainage areas and these dams can be up to 2 kilometres long and 300 metres wide. Sulphates and nitrates can also leach out in to downstream areas which is a significant risk.

Bendigo station land has DOC covenants over some of it. Some creeks will have to be diverted, for example Shepherds creek and Bendigo creek and pits will impact these areas. Some roads will also have to be closed or diverted.

 

Heritage Trust have been offered money by Santana to persuade them not to oppose the mining proposals. Rob also talked about ecological issues and the impact on ecosystems and wildlife including lizards etc. The original proposal also included part of the Ida valley.

 

Comment was also made about the leverage that mining companies apply to local communities with job offers for example, but 60% of jobs will be sourced from elsewhere because of skills needed. As well, mining sites will be visible from the air for travellers to and from Queenstown airport.

 

Santana was ignorant of the need for access to the Council owned road for some of their operation as well as the ‘Pack Track’ to Thompson saddle which has been there since the 1870’s.

 

Rob also showed pictures of areas where there would be ratepayer liabilities and potential other drainage issues relating to local creeks and if tailings dams fail, the Clutha could also be polluted. There are also potential landslide or earthquake risks associated with tailing dams.

 

Diesel storage facilities are another problem, because a large volume of diesel will be required to run the equipment and vehicles. Water being taken from local aquifers for operations is also a problem.

 

In conclusion, Rob emphasised the difference between West Coast mining and mining in Central Otago because of tourism and related industries. He claimed that Santana is largely ignoring the local community and that the so-called ‘drop-in sessions’ are largely for recruitment. And that Santana is making full use of the fast-track legislation and there is also apparent Government support for Sanatana and particularly through Shane Jones.

 

The bottom line is that Santana do not really want public consultation, and no real cost benefit analysis relative to the local community has been carried out.

 

Matt Sole briefly commented on his area of concern which was to do with flora and fauna due to the unique nature of some of the species in the Bendigo area.

 

Skevingtons have given us space to sort books again. Next, we needed to get underway and move our boxes and books into the sheds at Ngapara street (see pictures, now accomplished).

 

The plan as now executed was to move in Sunday morning, the 12th of October at 9.00am. 

 

Required for the job was a trailer and access to a forklift, we intend to move some books in during the following week.

 

Last year, sorting seemed to work well on a Monday afternoon, 1-3, so will run that again.

 

Mark and Hugh.