PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Lincoln Minerals on Thursday announced that it had received a groundwater licence for its proposed iron-ore mine in South Australia.
In August this year, the Environment, Resources and Development Court of South Australian directed the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation to grant a water licence to the proposed Gum Flats iron-ore mine.
The Minister had initially refused the company’s application for a water licence to extract groundwater at the proposed mine at the Gum Flats project area.
The groundwater licence would now allow Lincoln to extract up to 435 megalitres a year of groundwater for industrial purposes, at a sustainable rate, to facilitate the proposed iron-ore mine.
Lincoln pointed out on Thursday that the mining licence only applied for the extraction of groundwater from the Basement aquifer, and not the upper Bridgewater Formation aquifer. Conditions have also been imposed, which would see Lincoln preparing a monitoring plan, obtaining a mining lease within four years, and maintaining detailed records of extraction.
The company is proposing to mine hematite 
mineralisation at the Barns deposit and export up to 250 000 t/y direct shipping ore (DSO) via Port Lincoln, including upgrading about one-million tonnes a year of lower-grade hematite-goethite-magnetite to DSO grade over a four- or five-year mine life.