Iron ore junior Australasian Resources is awaiting ministerial conditions to progress its Balmoral South iron ore development following the release of the Environmental Protection Authority's report on the project.
Iron ore junior Australasian Resources is awaiting ministerial conditions to progress its Balmoral South iron ore development following the release of the Environmental Protection Authority's report on the project.
The EPA report confirms that the project can be managed to meet the EPA's environmental objectives, and recommends that the Environment Minister set conditions allowing for the project to proceed.
It is expected that the ministerial conditions for the project implementation will be released during November 2009, and that controls on potential impacts to the natural environment will be included as described in the EPA Report.
The Balmoral South PER involved extensive environmental surveys and investigations, including consultation with a range of key stakeholders during the development of the assessment.
Full announcement below:
Balmoral South Iron Ore Project reaches important milestone with release of positive EPA Report
Key points;
- Positive EPA Report released after the Balmoral South Iron Ore Project's Public Environmental Review (PER) process, and
- Report confirms project can be managed to meet the EPA's environmental objectives and recommends Ministerial approval be given.
Australian iron ore company Australasian Resources Ltd (Australasian) (ASX: ARH) has reached an important milestone in the development of the Balmoral South Iron Ore Project (Project), with the release of the Environmental Protection Authority's Report and Recommendations (the EPA Report) on the Project's Public Environmental Review (PER).
Release of the EPA Report is a major milestone for the Project, held within wholly-owned ARH subsidiary International Minerals Pty Ltd (IM), and marks a significant step towards developing this project into a world-class iron ore venture.
The Balmoral South PER involved extensive environmental surveys and investigations, including consultation with a range of key stakeholders during the development of the assessment.
After the longest public review period allowable for this type of assessment (eight weeks), only two submissions were received from non-government organisations.
The EPA Report confirms that following this extensive public and government review, the Project can be managed to meet the EPA's environmental objectives, and recommends that the Minister for Environment set Conditions allowing for the Project to proceed.
It is expected that the Ministerial Conditions for the project implementation will be released during November 2009, and that controls on potential impacts to the natural environment will be included as described in the EPA Report. These Conditions build upon the Management Plans already contained within the PER, and as such, no further Approvals under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act will be required.
The recommendations within the EPA Report and Ministerial Statement are open to appeal, however, given the extensive consultation to date, it is considered unlikely that any appeals will be necessary.
The Ministerial Approval granted under Section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act concludes the assessment of the Project, and allows for implementation of a Project as described, being;
- An open cut mine producing 80Mtpa of magnetite ore,
- Processing facilities including crusher, concentrator and pellet plant for the production of 24 Mtpa of product, with up to 14Mtpa of pellets for export,
- 30km conveyor linking the process plant to the port facilities,
- 40GLpa desalination plant and 600MW combined-cycle gas fired power station,
- Overburden and waste disposal facilities, and
- Accommodation villages for 4,000 construction and 1,500 operations personnel and other supporting infrastructure
Under existing agreements IM has access to the port facilities currently under construction by Citic Pacific Mining. IM is preparing the information required for subsequent licences and permits to effect Project and export facility construction, and expects to have these in place in 2010 to meet construction timelines.
Australasian would like to thank the staff at Mineralogy as well as the many professional consultants and partners for their assistance in preparing the Balmoral South assessment.
