TNG gets major project status

Perth-based TNG has been given major project status by the federal government for its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory.

In an announcement this morning, TNG said Mount Peake, which sits about 230 kilometres north of Alice Springs, would contribute to the region’s economic development and grow and diversify Australia’s critical minerals sector.

It secured major project status shortly after the federal government outlined details of a 10-year roadmap to grow the critical minerals and resources technology sectors.

TNG managing director Paul Burton said the status award was testament to the substantial economic and social benefits Mount Peake was expected to deliver.

The project will be developed across two separate sites in the NT, with the 37-year operation expected to produce 100,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide pigment per annum, 6,000tpa vanadium pentoxide and 500,000tpa iron oxide.

Mount Peake holds a pre-tax net present value of $2.8 billion with an internal rate of return of about 33 per cent.

Initial capital costs were revised to $824 million in September 2019, down from $853 million, after TNG released an optimized delivery strategy and revised mine schedule.

Today, TNG said Mount Peake’s development was expected to create about 1,600 jobs during its construction and up to an estimated 1,000 long-term jobs in the operational phase of the project.

TNG is currently progressing a front-end engineering design (FEED) study, with Germany’s SMS group undertaking the works, which will reveal the final capex required for Mount Peake’s beneficiation plant and processing facility.

The project also has major project status from the Northern Territory.

TNG was trading 7.8 per cent higher at 2:30pm AEDT to 9.7 cents per share.