PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands developer Strandline Resources has taken a final investment decision on its A$338-million Coburn project, in Western Australia.
Construction on the project will start immediately, and first production is scheduled for the second half of 2022. Construction is expected to create some 300 direct jobs, and some 150 jobs once in production.
Coburn has an ore reserves of 523-million tonnes and an initial mine life of 22.5 years at a planned average mining rate of 23.4-million tonnes a year, with the potential to extend its mine life to more than 37 years.
Strandline has five major binding offtake contracts in place for the project, accounting for some 95% of the forecast mineral sands production, worth an estimated $600-million over the first five years of production.
MD Luke Graham said on Tuesday that the decision to develop Coburn was fantastic news for the company, the region, and the mineral sands sector.
“The project capitalizes on its robust technical and commercial fundamentals, and Western Australia’s strong position to support growing demand for critical minerals such as zircon, titanium and rare earths.
“The project it set to benefit from increasing demand and falling supply of its critical minerals following years of under-investment in new projects.”