Greenvale keen to see mine begin
THE proposed development of a $ 1.3 billion nickel, cobalt and scandium operation at Greenvale has been welcomed by Charters Towers Mayor Liz Schmidt.
The operation, involving open cut mines and a processing plant on the old Greenvale mine site, is the venture of listed company Australian Mines Ltd which hopes to begin construction mid- 2019.
The area is within the Charters Towers Regional Council which also manages the Greenvale community’s water and sewerage infrastructure bequeathed to the council when nickel mining closed in the town in 1993.
About 140 people now live in Greenvale which once had a population of about 3000.
Cr Schmidt said the development was exciting for Greenvale with the potential for the operations to support the town’s services such as its school, hotel and shops.
“It’s exciting times for us. Any economic development for our community is a good thing,” Cr Schmidt said. “Hopefully we can advance the Greenvale community.
“Any influx of people into our community with the school and shops in that area would be amazing.”
Australian Mines released the Sconi project’s feasibility study on Tuesday showing the plan to develop three open cut pits and a two million tonne per annum processing plant, producing nickel and cobalt sulphate and scandium oxide, was commercially viable.
The study, prepared by engineering and construction firm Ausenco, found an operation producing up to 60,000 of nickel sulphate, 12,000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate and 89 tonnes of scandium oxide, would produce revenues of $ 711 million a year with a project payoff period of 5.2 years.
About 500 people would be employed during construction and 300 people once operational in 2021.
The company says about 80 per cent of the workforce would be sourced from Greenvale and Charters Towers along with limited fly- in flyout support from Townsville.
Australian Mines is negotiating with financiers in Australia, the US and UK and has appointed former Fortescue finance manager Marcus Hughes as chief financial officer.
UK- based Medea Capital Partners has been appointed to secure project funding.
A syndicate of six to eight lenders, including the Federal Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, is being sought for debt funding, while offtake customer Korea’s SK Innovation is expected to take up a 20 per cent stake in the company.
IT’S EXCITING TIMES FOR US. ANY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR OUR COMMUNITY IS A GOOD THING. HOPEFULLY WE CAN ADVANCE THE GREENVALE COMMUNITY. CR LIZ SCHMIDT