PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Hawsons iron project, in New South Wales, has been granted Major Project status by the federal government.
ASX-listed project developer Carpentaria Exploration told shareholders that the elevation to this select status was expected to provide a smoother and potentially faster approvals process for the project.
Hawsons was now one of only 13 other projects nationwide awarded this designation by the Department of Jobs and Innovation.
“Today’s announcement is a major milestone for our project, and we acknowledge the government’s important facilitating role in the Hawsons project and the positive signal it sends to investors and community stakeholders,” said Carpentaria MD Quentin Hill.
He noted that the Major Project designation was expected to promote international investment in the project, as it reduced the perceived permitting risks.
The Major Project status meant that the federal government’s Major Project Facilitation group would commit resources to assist the project’s development, coordinating and integrating federal and state permitting requirements and, where relevant, identifying any eligible government financial assistance.
A prefeasibility study into the Hawsons project estimated that the 10-million-tonne-a-year operation would have a post-tax net present value of $867-million and an internal rate of return of 17.8%. Revenues of $881-million a year and average earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortisation of $401-million a year were expected.
Carpentaria is currently negotiating offtake-linked project funding with a number of customers, the company said, following an oversubscription of the initial planned production at Hawsons, with non-binding letters of intent obtained from a number of steelmakers and trading houses.