PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority has granted junior Heron Resources an environmental protection licence (EPL) for its Woodlawn project.
The EPL is the final licensing requirement prior to the start of construction at Woodlawn, and is one of the pre-requisites to advancing project financing, Heron said on Friday.
Woodlawn is expected to produce 40 000 t/y of zinc, 10 000 t/y of copper and 12 000 t/y of lead, over an initial mine life of 9.3 years, with potential to extend the mine life to more than 11.5 years.
The project will process one-million tonnes a year from underground mining and up to 1.5-million tonnes a year from reclaiming tailings, with two production sources providing operational flexibility and reducing risk.
Heron is hoping to start production in 2018.