JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australia’s Federal Court has dismissed an appeal against the previous court decision to uphold the Federal Minister’s approval of ASX-listed iron-ore miner Venture Mineral’s Riley direct shipping ore (DSO) mine, in Tasmania.
The decision effectively delivered Venture unencumbered environmental approvals for the development of the Riley iron-ore mine.
“[We] are pleased with the decision, as it validates the robust approval process completed by Venture over past two years. Although [we] have all the necessary approvals in place to start production, [we] will continue to keep the Riley DSO project on hold owing to the sharp fall in iron-ore prices over the past year,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
Venture had already completed extensive preproduction work at Riley and was in a strong position, should the iron-ore price improve and afforded the company the opportunity to start production with relatively short notice.
Venture would continue to actively seek to recover all legal cost associated with this case, as well as previous appeals.
A 2012 scoping study found that at a capital cost of less than A$7-million, the DSO project, which consists of the Livingstone and Riley deposits, could deliver a net present value of A$123-million, at a net revenue for the life-of-mine of A$170-million.