Premier Jay Weatherill today opened Petaluma’s new Adelaide Hills winery, insisting that possible conflicts with a proposed mine next door will be thoroughly assessed

PREMIER Jay Weatherill today spruiked the potential of South Australia’s clean, green food industry at a newly-opened winery — 400m from a proposed underground gold mine.

Petaluma

PREMIER Jay Weatherill today spruiked the potential of South Australia’s clean, green food industry at a newly-opened winery — 400m from a proposed underground gold mine.

Petaluma’s new winery at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills is just 400m from a potential gold mine planned by Adelaide company Terramin Australia.

Bird in Hand winery is also right next door.

Last month Terramin said it had bought 365,000sqm of land at Bird in Hand, in preparation for the development of a gold mine which would operate for four years.

The project, which would cost $25.6 million and generate up to 233,000 ounces of gold, does not yet have State Government approval to operate.

Petaluma head winemaker Andrew Hardy said the company looked at “hundreds” of sites in South Australia before buying the Woodside property from his extended family.

Petaluma, which is owned by Lion, had to build a new winery as its lease over Brian Croser’s Piccadilly winery had come to an end.

The new winery cost $14 million to build and the company’s chief executive Stuart Irvine said the Petaluma and Croser brands had been experiencing double-digit growth in recent years.

Mr Weatherill opened the new winery yesterday, talking up the “pristine” environment of the Adelaide Hills.

“It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place in South Australia, to nestle these operations,’’ he said.

“It’s an incredibly attractive offering, not just the beautiful wines you produce but also the experiences that people can enjoy here in the Adelaide Hills.

“Imagine our beautiful premium wines, together with our incredible food, all in this pristine natural environment, where we can represent ourselves to the world as having this pure product that’s grown in a clean environment and we can have great confidence that it’s a product that has great integrity.

“That sits at the heart of what we’re offering the rest of Australia and the rest of the world.’’

Mr Weatherill said the food and wine sector generated $17.1 billion in revenue from food and wine in 2014-15.

A government spokesman later said there would be a thorough public consultation process and assessment if a mining lease application was made by the company.

“The Department of State Development as the lead regulator for mineral exploration and production has been informed by Terramin Australia that it is undertaking studies into the potential to develop an underground mining operation at the Bird In Hand site to extract the substantial gold resource located at depth,’’ the spokesman said.

“At this stage, the company has not submitted either an application for a mining lease or a mining proposal for its Bird in Hand prospect.

“While the Government recognises the importance of our resources sector in growing the state’s future economic prosperity, this priority is balanced against achieving key environmental and social objectives.

“That is why any application for a mining lease or mining proposal in South Australia is openly and transparently assessed by the Department and members of the community are given an opportunity to make their views known as part of a thorough public consultation process.”

Lion spokeswoman Leela Gantman said the company was confident that the State Government’s regulatory processes would protect the environment.

“In South Australia the right to mine transcends most landowner rights — even owning the land can’t prevent others mining on it once they have followed the regulated procedures,’’ Ms Gantman said.

“After extensive research and consideration, we are confident that if mining does take place, due process would be followed and enforced to preserve the environment, the quality of Petaluma’s wines and our ability to operate the winery safely and effectively.

“We looked at a number of different sites when seeking a new home for Petaluma, and Woodside was chosen due to the substantial space it provided and the picturesque location.

“Lion always conducts due diligence when making new site investments and this investment was no exception.’’

Terramin said any mine would have a very small above-ground footprint and it was confident it could coexist with existing land uses such as the neighbouring wineries.

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