PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Commissioning and first production from the Boonanarring mineral sands project, in Western Australia, remained on track for the fourth quarter of this year, owner Image Resources said.
The company on Tuesday said that construction of the opencut mine started in April, with the exposure of first high-grade ore expected by the end of September.
Site infrastructure has also been installed, and the permanent administration offices have arrived on site and will be commissioned in August.
Image told shareholders that the project, which is fully funded, remains within 2% of the total budgeted cost.
The Boonanarring deposit is expected to deliver 1.1-million tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate and the Atlas deposit an additional 711 000 t. The Boonanarring deposit is estimated to have an initial mine life of five years, after which mining will move to the Atlas deposit, which will add a further three years to the overall mine life.