PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The South Australian government has awarded ASX-listed Iron Road a mining lease and development approval for its A$4.5-billion Central Eyre iron project (CEIP).

CEIP is slated to be Australia’s largest magnetite mine with production capacity of 21.5-million tonnes a year over 25 years. The project will include the construction of a new 145 km rail link and deep-water port at Cape Hardy, near Tumby Bay.

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said on Wednesday that the South Australian government had undertaken a “rigorous” development assessment process, which considered a wide range of environmental, social and economic impacts on local residents and businesses.

The assessment resulted in 127 conditions that Iron Road will have to meet to proceed with the project, including the resolution of land access issues, continuous monitoring and public reporting of dust emissions and noise, and taking measures to prevent any loss of agricultural productivity from surrounding properties.

“There are 14-billion tonnes of magnetite underground in South Australia and the state government is committed to developing this resource in order to boost exports, create jobs and drive economic activity in regional areas,” the Minister said.

“This is an extremely important milestone in the CEIP, which is the latest in a pipeline of magnetite projects under development in South Australia. If this project proceeds to production it won’t be a sugar hit to our economy, it will deliver 700 jobs over a 25-year mine life and will underpin the growth of a local industry with the capacity to supply an enormous global market.”

Iron Road MD Andrew Stocks said that he was delighted to receive the two primary South Australian approvals for the CEIP.

“The CEIP will employ approximately 1 950 people during construction and 700 during operations, all located on the Eyre Peninsula, in addition to the workforce required in the Adelaide head office.

“The approvals we have received are a direct recognition by the South Australian government of these and other significant direct benefits for the state.”

Stocks said that the company was looking forward to the next stage of its development journey, which would include further engagement with stakeholders, preparing the secondary approval applications, reaching a final investment decision with strategic partner China Railway Group and, ultimately, achieving financial close.

Iron Road is seeking to secure the remaining financing for the project by December 2017.