Kristina Keneally yesterday carried out a four hour above and below ground tour of the mine before a final decision on the Cadia East project is handed down by Christmas.

If approved, the project will become the largest underground gold mine in Australia and the fourth largest in the world.

“I’ve made a habit of visiting sites like this because sometimes you get more value out of spending a full day or even an hour at sites like this as opposed to spending a week reading briefing notes and looking at photos,” Ms Keneally said.

“This whole application is something quite different because I approve residential and commercial developments quite regularly but a gold mine rarely comes across my desk.”

The only barrier blocking a determination being made now is the completion of an independent water study that will examine the impacts of the additional daily use of six million litres on surrounding properties and river systems, Ms Keneally said.

“The overwhelming concern raised in the submission process was of course about water so I will be looking closely at that study before I do make that determination.”

Also visiting the site yesterday, Newcrest Mining Ltd managing director and chief executive officer Ian Smith laid out the timetable for the project should it be approved by the end of the year.

“If that happens before Christmas I plan to take it to a board meeting at the end of February and have approval in place to proceed from that point forward,” he said.

“You will then see jobs peak in 2010 and 2011 as construction gets underway. Aside from that we want to set Orange and Cadia Valley Operations up as a centre for training, for using new technological applications, for central warehousing distribution, we are really building into this area a lot more than just the mine.”

The mayors of Orange, Cabonne, Blayney and Cowra councils joined the minister for yesterday’s tour.