Soil turned at Browns Range pilot plant
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has broken soil at the Browns Range rare earths project, marking the start of work at the pilot plant operation.
The proposed A$56-million pilot plant is a tenth of the scale of the full operation, and has a 60 000 t/y crushing beneficiation circuit, and 3 200 t/y hydrometallurgical plant, which will produce 590 t of total rare-earth oxide in a mixed rare-earth carbonate.
The first mixed rare-earth carbonate production is expected in mid-2018.
"This project provides vital economic development and employment opportunities to the Kimberley community, with 50 construction jobs and 45 ongoing operational positions.
"The project proponents have also applied for federal funding for a dedicated Aboriginal training centre at the mine site, to be run in partnership with Kununurra's Wunan Foundation,” McGowan said on Friday.
Northern Minerals MD and CEO George Bauk noted that action was ramping up at the Browns Hill project, with mining having started last month, and with contractors arriving on site to start preparation work at the processing plant modules under construction in China.
“At full-scale production, we expect the project will employ 250 staff on site, and we will be focused on providing direct employment and contract opportunities for locals.”
The pilot plant would be a stepping stone to the development of a full-scale A$329-million project, which has been modelled over an initial life of 11 years, and which would produce 585 00 t of high value heavy rare earths.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Occupational health services, mobile clinics, wellness campaigns, aviation.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Established on 1 March, 2000, by Barries Barnard, Advanced Fire Suppression Technologies (AFST) and the Advanced Group stands as Sub-Saharan...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
