TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Australia’s Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority (NT EPA) has approved Denver, Colorado-based Vista Gold’s environmental-impact statement (EIS) for the Mt Todd gold project, 250 km south-east of Darwin, in Australia.

The company announced on Monday that it had been informed by the NT EPA that the Mt Todd project could proceed, subject to a number of recommendations, which were outlined in an assessment report.

“We are pleased with the accomplishment of this significant milestone. This marks the conclusion of a rigorous environmental risk assessment and review process that started in 2011. Vista now has a key legal entitlement required to move forward with the Mt Todd gold project at the appropriate time,” Vista president and CEO Fred Earnest said.

He added that with the successful completion of the EIS process, the permitting risk was substantially reduced and the development timeline at Mt Todd was well defined. This set Mt Todd apart from most other large undeveloped gold projects.

“Our next steps will focus on obtaining the necessary approvals under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) from the federal government (as it relates to the Gouldian Finch) and then turn our efforts to obtaining the mine operating permit, known as the mine management plan, or MMP, from the NT Department of Mines and Energy,” Earnest said.

The company based its EIS on a 50 000 t/d operation, which would generate the largest possible environmental impact. This would now allow the company flexibility to scale the project down initially, if the economics of a smaller project proved to be more compelling, and undertake an expansion of the project at a later date, if justified.

“Our plan is to continue to evaluate opportunities to optimise and improve the Mt Todd gold project pending an improved gold price that will allow us to seek to develop the project and potentially achieve the economic returns that our shareholders expect,” Earnest noted.

The company had started planning to submit the documents required for authorisation under the EPBC Act and to approve the MMP.

The NT EPA assessment report included 28 recommendations that would have to be addressed as part of the MMP. Included in these recommendations were four that related directly to the Gouldian Finch. Vista estimated that approval under the EPBC Act would take about three to four months from the submission date and that approval for the MMP would require about six months.

Vista pointed out that it intended to undertake studies in the second quarter of 2015 for the EPBC Act approval. MMP preparation would continue internally and the company planned to have it ready to submit when there were signs of a sustained recovery in the gold market.