The Central App

Medical trust mooted from Bendigo sale

The Central App

Sue Wards l The Central App

20 October 2025, 4:45 PM

Medical trust mooted from Bendigo saleJohn Perriam

Bendigo Station owner John Perriam says he is in “the very early stages” of a proposal to set up a family medical trust, following news last week that mining company Santana Minerals had signed a binding agreement to purchase “key blocks” of the station for $55M.


John told the Central App “there is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet”, including Santana Minerals needing to get mining approval.



“That will decide the size of our family trust,” he said.


John has a personal reason for setting up a medical trust.


“I have lost a lot of close friends including my late wife Heather to cancer, and life could have been much easier for them and close families if we had state of the art facilities in Central Otago,” he said.



“And I have a close golfing buddy at 90-years-old who has just had to do six 12-hour round trips to Dunedin for radiation treatments.


“Surely we can afford these facilities in Central Otago.”


John said he was also “a strong supporter” of the Otago Rescue Helicopter Service and “would like to give more financial support”.


“I would also like to see an air ambulance service established for patients and families from Central Otago,” he said.



When asked for more details on the proposal, John said his thinking was still in the “very early stages”, and a family trust board would be kept “very close to our family members”.


Under the deal announced last week (Thursday October 16), Santana Minerals will acquire roughly 800 hectares of the historic station, or approximately 10 percent of the farm, for mining.


The proposal is still subject to Overseas Investment Office approval and the Fast Track Approvals Act process.


Read more: Mining company buys key Bendigo blocks


John said last week he had come around to the idea of selling the land to Santana Minerals.


“I… was determined to keep control by leasing not selling the land to Santana, but 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.”


John said he “didn’t feel he had the right to stand in the path of” the forecast $5B in regional economic benefits.


A statement from Santana Minerals said this means it now controls the ground it needs to shift from “exploration to full-scale development”.



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