PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed TNG has signed a Native Title Agreement for its Mt Peake vanadium/titanium/iron project, in the Northern Territory.
The agreement was struck with the Central Land Council and the Eynewantheyne Aboriginal Corporation, the body corporate for the native title holders of the land.
TNG MD Paul Burton said on Thursday that the completion of a formal Native Title Agreement marked a significant milestone for the Mt Peake project, noting that it would lead to security of tenure, which would facilitate the approval for the mine development.
The agreement would enable the Northern Territory government to proceed with the grant of the Mt Peake mineral licence and related ancillary mineral leases, paving the way for the project to proceed, subject to financing.
Mt Peake is expected to cost A$853-million to develop, consisting of an openpit mine and on-site three-million-tonne-a-year concentrator, linked by rail to an advanced TIVAN refinery.
TNG has already signed three life-of-mine offtake agreements for its vanadium, titanium dioxide and iron products, with the project forecast to produce 243 000 t of high purity vanadium pentoxide, 3.5-million tonnes of titanium pigment and 10.6-million tonnes of iron-oxide over a 17-year mine life.
The federal government in May this year approved the development of Mt Peake.