PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment has given Canada-based miner EMC Metals the green light to develop its Nyngan scandium project.

The new mine will employ 75 people and will generate some A$12.4-million for the local economy over the next 21 years.

Department of Planning and Environment director of resource assessments, Clay Preshaw, said the proposal was assessed under state government’s policies and the local community was consulted on the plans.

“The new Nyngan mine proposes to meet a growing global demand for a once overlooked resource material and produce up to 45 t of scandium oxide a year, for 21 years,” Preshaw said.

“In 2015, only 15 t of scandium was traded around the world and the material has previously been considered expensive and hard to come by. The new mine will extract a total of 1.5-million tonnes of material from two small open cut pits around 10 ha in size.

“Mining activity will be limited to specific campaigns and will only occur up to three times in one year. The approved timeframe for these mining campaigns is between three to five weeks,” Preshaw said.

He noted that strict conditions had been applied to the mine approval, including requirements for a road intersection upgrade to ensure safe vehicle access to the mine.

“The company must also develop an accommodation strategy to ensure mine employees moving to Nyngan have somewhere to live, minimising impacts on the local housing market.

“As a condition, EMC Metals must contribute A$125 000 annually to Bogan council for local community services and ensure local road upgrades are also completed.”

EMC Metals CEO George Putnam said that the development consent represented a significant milestone for the project, and was achieved in six months.

“This critical gating approval feeds directly into the process for granting of a mining lease, which is the remaining significant governmental clearance we need to begin mine and plant construction next year. We remain on our target timetable to have all final state approvals for mine development by year-end 2016."