Iron ore developer Centrex Metals reported on Tuesday that the South Australian Minister for Urban Planning and Development, Paul Holloway, had approved the company's Port Lincoln development application.
The Minister's decision paved the way for Centrex to complete detailed engineering design at the port, and to finalise negotiations on port lease and licence agreements, as well as a rail and freight agreement prior to the construction, and exporting of hematite from Centrex's Wilgerup deposit, in South Australia.
Centrex chairperson David Lindh said that the decision marked a critical point in the company's push to move from explorer to miner status. "Over the last three years, Centrex has completed a full development application to refurbish the mothballed Proper Bay export facility, and completed an advanced engineering study to export Wilgerup hematite from Whyalla. Both options eventually became unavailable."
Lindh noted that the company had completed ‘exhaustive' studies relating to the exporting of hematite from Port Lincoln, which had shown that all potential issues could be managed to exacting standards. "The studies included definitive investigations that demonstrated Wilgerup hematite could be essentially insoluble and that if any accidental spillage did occur, the hematite would not stimulate phytoplankton growth in Boston Bay."
The plan now was to refurbish existing Port Lincoln port infrastructure and to start exporting hematite at a rate of 1,6-million tons a year, by the fourth quarter of 2010.
Holloway noted that the approval of the development had 12 conditions, including a limited life of ten years for the project, that only material from one lease be brought on site, and that unloading of rail cars would not occur before 6am or after 10pm.
"While this approval marks the further significant step in the emergence of a new mining industry on the Eyre Peninsula, the region's long-term future will depend on the development of a new port."
The approval was based on the recommendation from the independent Development Assessment Commission, which found that the application was consistent with Port Lincoln's current planning policies, given that the Centrex development was located within an existing port, and would be subject to strict compliance with the licensing requirements.
Source: Mining Weekly
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