PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed TNG on Thursday reported that it will progress the development of its flagship Mt Peake vanadium/titanium/iron project, in the Northern Territory, with a fully-integrated mining and processing operation within its existing mining leases.

The company told shareholders that the selection of the Mt Peake mine site for its downstream TIVAN processing facility (TPF) followed a detailed assessment of alternative sites.

The strategic assessment review included quantification of the potential operational, regulatory and commercial risks of having a consolidated and integrated mine site operation compared with a standalone TPF in Darwin.

“This is a very significant milestone for TNG and a significant development for our shareholders and all key stakeholders associated with the Mt Peake project,” said TNG MD and CEO Paul Burton.

“Following the detailed review of alternative locations for the TPF outlined in recent announcements, and taking into consideration factors such as energy supply and water processing, we intend to progress an integrated and consolidated plan with the TPF to be evaluated at the Mt Peake mine site.”

An integrated mine-beneficiation-processing facility was originally contemplated at the Mt Peake mine site in the initial project scoping study, however, at that time gas and water availability were considered inadequate to meet the project’s requirements.

As a result, a number of other sites were assessed for the location of the TPF, including Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Pine Creek and Darwin. The company also considered an offshore site in Kuantan, Malaysia, and a site near Whyalla in South Australia.

“This is the most important change to the configuration of the Mt Peake project since the completion of the feasibility study and, importantly, it gives certainty to all of our key stakeholders, our project financiers, our shareholders and everyone else who has followed our journey to date,” Burton said.

“The colocation of the TPF at the mine site delivers a host of strategic and logistical benefits and, importantly, significantly de-risks our development pathway moving forward.

“We are now working with our key engineering and contracting partners to develop an updated project delivery schedule and to move ahead with permitting as quickly as possible,” said Burton.