Zeotech (ASX:ZEO) has invited civil construction contractors to tender for haul road construction and upgrades for its Toondoon Kaolin Project, 20km south of Mundubbera in Central Queensland’s North Burnett region.
The company has issued mine site haul road construction contract documentation to potential tenderers through a private tender process. This brings Zeotech one step closer to haul road mobilisation.
Zeotech has separately finished detailed design drawings for upgrading the Myola Road and Mundubbera‑Durong Road intersection, ‘issue for construction’ drawings, and lodged an application for associated notifiable road‑use approval through the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.
The state Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development has approved Zeotech’s mine access road variation application.
The company now plans to fast-track a minimum 10,000 tonne trial shipment of Kaolin direct shipping ore (DSO). This will follow a 20 tonne container load of Kaolin and Cosmetic Kaolin DSO that has been readied for shipment to offtake partner Jiangsu Mineral Sources International Trading in April.
“The team has maintained disciplined momentum on approvals and community engagement while advancing the mine plan and logistics required for the Toondoon Kaolin Project,” Zeotech CEO James Marsh says.
“These activities reflect our methodical, risk‑managed approach to unlocking Toondoon’s direct shipping ore potential and underpin our confidence in the development pathway, subject to regulatory and commercial milestones.”
The company recognises that geopolitical developments in the Middle East, global energy market volatility, and fuel-related input costs across the civil construction sector may inflate prices and pressure contractors to re-evaluate which contract offers they tender for.
“These conditions may place upward pressure on contractor pricing and, in some cases, have led to reduced capacity with some contractors reassessing their participation in the company’s private tender process for haulage road and associated civil works,” the company says.
“[Since] contractor participation may continue to be impacted in the near term the company will continue to engage with prospective contractors and closely monitor market conditions as part of its ongoing project planning and risk management.”
Zeotech is developing the Toondoon Kaolin Project in Central Queensland for Kaolin DSO and commercialisation of AusPozz™, a high-performance metakaolin used in low-carbon concrete. As a manufactured pozzolan, AusPozz™ is approved for use under Australian concrete standards as a Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM).
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: Zeotech
