Queensland-based mineral sands explorer Diatreme Resources has signed contracts with a Chinese mining services company to conduct a definitive feasibility study and help source funding for its Cyclone zircon project in Western Australia's Eucla Basin.
Under the consulting services agreement, China ENFI will complete a DFS over the next five months, with the cooperation agreement involves ENFI using its network to attract project investors, offtakers and debt funding.
ENFI is backed by Chinese state-owned enterprise China Minmetals Group, a subsidiary of Metallurgical Corporation, which is a part of CMG.
Headquartered in Beijing, the group has about $314 billion in assets.
The contracts follow on from a non-binding memorandum of understanding between the companies in September.
Diatreme chairman William Wang said the contracts would provide major benefits for the project.
“This is a historic day, not only for Diatreme, but also for Australia’s mineral sands industry,” he said
“We are delighted to be working with a company of the size and expertise of ENFI as we advance our flagship project towards mining, for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
