Northern Minerals teams up with Accenture

Northern Minerals has appointed Dublin-headquartered management consulting firm Accenture to plan and budget a feasibility study at its flagship Browns Range heavy rare earths project near Halls Creek.

Accenture will undertake capital project services for Northern Minerals, including planning, estimating and cost control, document control and risk management.

“As we undertake the feasibility study into the Browns Range project, it is critical that we are able to access deep capabilities and skills to achieve scale, certainty and control over costs and schedules,” Northern Minerals managing director George Bauk said.

Western Australian Environment Minister Albert Jacob granted Northern Minerals environmental approval of the Browns Range project last month, after the Environmental Protection Authority gave it conditional approval in August.

The mine is forecast to produce about 4,000 tonnes of high purity mixed rare earth oxide per year, and has an expected 10-year life.

The Browns Range project sits on the Western Australia-Northern Territory border.

It includes a borefield for water supply, access to haul roads and supporting infrastructure, including an ore processing facility, accommodation village, tailings storage facility, workshops, evaporation ponds, diesel power supply and an airstrip.

To help fund the feasibility study, Northern Minerals secured $6 million in funding from Macquarie Bank in July.

While conducting a feasibility study, Northern Minerals will also be focussing on securing offtake and financing to progress the project through construction in 2015, and commissioning in 2016.

Meanwhile, Accenture has been growing its presence in Perth since it landed in 2007.

In January, the firm said its goal was to win work with operators in the state's mining and energy sector.

The company said it holds a 50-50 split between mining and oil and gas contracts in WA.

It also comprises a tech division - Accenture Digital.

Shares in Northern Minerals were 1.8 per cent lower at 26.5 cents per share at 10:40am.