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The Public Works Act may be used to force the purchase by Dunedin City Council of the 23 million-year-old fossil rich crater lake, called the Foulden Marr Crater, near Middlemarch in Otago.
Foulden Maar is approximately 1,000 metres in diameter with a diatomaceous layer estimated to be 200 metres deep.
Middlemarch locals, Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader, were the first to raise alarm bells at the mining proposal, and Andrea speaks with Karyn about how they uncovered the mining proposal.
Photo: RNZ / Timothy Brown