Foulden Maar, a 23-million-year-old crater lake near Middlemarch, isn’t exactly a hot spot. However, while not a tourist trap, the maar is significant in a scientific sense because it contains a large collection of well-preserved fossils. A pit at Foulden Maar, near Middlemarch. It already owns land near Foulden Maar, but to mine economically, it needs to purchase a neighbouring property too. But the application met immediate opposition, first from neighbours worried about road noise and dust, and then from palaeontologists worried for the loss of the valuable fossils of Foulden Maar.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 21, 2019 17:03 UTC