This is Matt Darwon, who has lived at Majors Creek for a decade. He drives to and from Sydney each week to work so that he and his family can enjoy the countryside around this creek. Each evening when he has finished work, he begans afresh on his other work, to look after this creek.

For Darwon and the people living at Majors Creek, this last decade could be condensed into a rollicking adventure film, opening with a helicopter flying over the hills east of Braidwood taking aeromagnetic images of the minerals under the ground, followed by mobile drill rigs taking core samples to confirm a vast resource of gold.

The action gathers momentum. Bedazzled by the history of the creek washing down 300,000 ounces from 1851 coupled with the latest mining data, more men arrive. In the spruiking of jobs and wealth and mad scramble for the leftover treasure below the surface, the men stumble, again and again, at the final hurdle.

They pass the baton to the next wave of miners. Darwon reads their documents and shakes his head. They are making the same mistake as the ones who came before them. They have no social licence to operate, and are falling further behind in getting that licence.

Plenty of people have searched for gold along the creek, Darwon reckons he has found it, not beneath the ground, but in the peaceful lifestyle among rolling hills and streams. For people downstream, the gold is in the value of the catchment as a clean filter for their drinking water on the South Coast.

Miners assured Majors Creek community they would be extra careful not to spoil the creek, and under no circumstances would they use cyanide. Then they spoiled the creek. And applied to use cyanide.

To cap it all off the man leading the charge turned out to be the same person in 2005 in charge of Lafayette Mining in the Philippines that discharged cyanide-laden waste into creeks, killing fish and other marine creatures, earning a record fine of $267,000.

He has left the current miner at Majors Creek, Unity Mining. And Unity has abandoned cyanide processing at the creek, and found a place at Parkes in central west NSW for processing. Unity is selling its interest to yet another miner, Diversified Minerals Pty Ltd, and to complete the deal, has put forward another modification to its plans for government approval.

Miners want to extend activities to 2024, and have lodged hundreds of pages of documents which Darwon has combed through.

Darwon's response to the modification is the miner, regardless of who it is today and into the future, needs a "social licence". Unity says his concerns, on behalf of the Majors Creek Catchment Guardians, is irrelevant because they have removed cyanide processing on site and reduced the size of the tailings dam, so these are no longer an issue.

"I am so deeply disappointed in the response by (Unity's consultant) R. W.Corkery and Co," he says. "To suggest that social licence to operate is no longer a relevant issue is complete and utter rubbish and shows total disregard for the community at Majors Creek and the surrounding areas.

"Social licence is completely necessary in our modern world. Big business must balance profits with protection of the environment and communities with transparent and ethical behaviour," Darwon says. "From the outset of any project to its completion date and into the future, social licence to operate is based on trust. It is not an issue that is ever not relevant."

Darwon has raised this with the miner. He says one company can make undertakings to earn a social licence, then sell to another miner who changes the conditions of approval. In that case, they need to start afresh too, and reapply for a social licence. He doesn't accept Unity's undertakings that they are well on their way to obtaining a fresh social licence.

Sixty submissions support the miner's latest plans, 331 object.

"The cyanide and the enlarged tailings storage are things that should never have been there in the first place," Darwon says. "I am going to really start pushing this button again, they can make as many modifications as they want, legally they can do that.

"That doesn't mean just because they legally are entitled to do it, the community have to be happy about it, and they have social licence to operate. Social licence to operate is a very real thing, it comes from corporate social responsibility."

Despite the creek pollution and a fractured community, Darwon says a social licence can be won at Majors Creek. "They can start by really understanding, and talking to the community properly."