The Queensland Government has granted mining leases for privately held North West Phosphate’s $300 million Paradise South Mine in northwest Queensland.
North West, which is touted the largest phosphate resource holding in Australia, plans to use local services for the mine, which is expected to create 200 jobs during construction, and another 245 once operational.
Paradise South aims to be an open cut mining operation with mine scheduling to excavate up to 2 million tonnes of phosphate per annum over a 20-year mine life.
The mine will include a processing plant onsite to produce the phosphate concentrate product ready for domestic and international markets.
Phosphate is a key ingredient for Australia’s multi-billion dollar agriculture industry and technologies needed for a decarbonised future. The mineral is commonly used in fertilisers and can also be turned into phosphoric acid, which is used in food, cosmetics, animal feeds, and electronics.
Resources and Critical Minerals Minister Scott Stewart says the northwest mineral province will continue to be a key driver in the state’s economy.
“Phosphorus is an important product not only in the agriculture sector but is also needed for the technologies the world will adopt as it moves to a net zero economy. That is why the Commonwealth Government has added phosphorus to its new strategic materials list,” he says.
Stewart adds that the government is supporting project developments similar to North West’s phosphate mine through its collaborative exploration initiative program and its $5 billion investment in Copperstring.
North West Phosphate Executive Chairman John Cotter says the company will be working with the government to get the project off the ground as soon as possible..
“As many in the northwest region would know, this project was first talked about decades ago, but it is the cutting edge project design underpinned by world-class technology that has been put together by the North West Phosphate project term that will make sure this project becomes a reality,” he says.
Paradise South is located adjacent to the Lady Loretta zinc mine owned by Glencore (LON:GLEN) 130km northwest of Mount Isa. The mining lease application was submitted by Legend International and is in the final stage of regulatory approvals with the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.
Paradise South will be an open cut mining operation with mine scheduling completed to excavate up to 2 million tonnes of phosphate ore per annum over an initial 20-year mine life.
The deposit has a total of 436.5Mt (JORC 2004) with a proven ore target of 129Mt and 35.5Mt of proven saleable concentrate at 32.2%.
The company says the JORC 2014 statement and resource upgrade currently being prepared indicates an increased size and quality of the resource that supports up to a 50-year mine life.
The Paradise South mine will include a processing plant onsite to produce the phosphate concentrate product ready for domestic and international markets.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: North West Phosphate
