The Environmental Protection Authority has given conditional approval to Northern Minerals for its Browns Range project, located 160 kilometres south-east of Halls Creek.
The Environmental Protection Authority has given conditional approval to Northern Minerals for its Browns Range project, located 160 kilometres south-east of Halls Creek.
The mine is said to produce about 4,000 tonnes of high purity mixed rare oxide each year, with an expected life of up to 10 years.
It includes a borefield for water supply, access and haul roads and supporting infrastructure including an ore processing facility, accommodation village, tailings storage facility, workshops, evaporation ponds, diesel power supply and an airstrip.
The EPA said the final product extracted from the mine would be transported in shipping containers using public roads to either Darwin or Wyndham Port for export.
EPA chairman Paul Vogel said the proposal had been examined carefully, with the EPA also consulting with the Radiological Council and the Department of Mines and Petroleum throughout the assessment.
“The Radiological Council and Department of Mines and Petroleum are responsible for ensuring radiation risks are managed within the international and national standards to protect human and environmental health,” Dr Vogel said.
“Together with the regulation provided by these two key agencies, the proponent has also committed to developing a project radiation management plan, which would be finalised for regulatory approval prior to construction and operation.”
The EPA recommended several conditions, including a requirement for the proponent to develop a conservation significant fauna management plan before the commencement of any ground-disturbing activities.
“The plan, to be developed in consultation with the Department of Parks and Wildlife, will ensure impacts to conservation of significant species of terrestrial fauna are minimised during the construction and operation of the mine,” the EPA said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Northern Minerals announced it had secured $6 million in funding from Macquarie Bank after the EPA gave Browns Range approval.
The funds will be used to complete a feasibility study on the project at the end of the year.
