PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Strandline Resources has tipped contractor Macmahon as the preferred contractor for its Coburn mineral sands project, in Western Australia.
The two companies have inked an early contractor involvement agreement for early works associated with the contract mining services, and will now work exclusively over the coming months to optimise the mining solution and conclude contract documentation.
The scope of the mining services contract will include ore mining at a rate of 23.4-million tonnes a year, overburden removal, pit backfill and land recontouring, as well as the transfer of concentrate from the wet concentrator plant to the mineral separation plant, and general mining related earthworks.
The contract is expected to cover the first five years of the project life.
A definitive feasibility study on Coburn has estimated that the A$257-million project would produce an average of 229 000 t/y of heavy mineral concentrate over an estimated mine life of more than 22 years, generating life-of-mine revenues of A$3.9-billion.
The project would produce 34 000 t/y of premium zircon, 54 000 t/y of zircon concentrate and 110 000 t/y of chloride ilmenite and a further 24 000 t/y of rutile.
The project’s mine life could be extended by a further 15 years based on the potential production targets already identified, making Coburn a generational project.