Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) says it remains “fully committed” to progressing its Bowdens Silver Project, despite the New South Wales Supreme Court, Court of Appeal upholding an appeal by Bingman Catchment Landcare Group Incorporated.
Silver Mines, which has a market capitalisation of $128.18 million, says it will obtain all relevant permits and development consents required to develop and kick-start production at Bowdens.
On 14 March 2024, Silver Mines announced its subsidiary Bowdens Silver had successfully defended proceedings begun by Bingman Catchment in the Environment Court of New South Wales.
However, Bingman then filed appeal proceedings in the Court of Appeal, which handed down its judgment upholding the original appeal on August 16.
At the time, Silver Mines said “the orders made by the Court of Appeal unfortunately mean that the development consent for the project can no longer be relied upon by the company.”
The action brought by Bingham was against the state government’s Independent Planning Commission (IPC) and Bowdens Silver, challenging the development consent for the project, which had been approved by the IPC in April 2023.
The company notes that the appeal proceedings challenge the administrative process taken by the IPC in deciding to grant the development consent for the project.
The appeal was centred on whether the IPC failed to fully consider the impacts of a potential transmission line to power Bowdens Silver, which was proposed to be approved via an alternate approval pathway.
As such, Silver Mines says it is now working towards preparing and submitting a new development application for Bowdens Silver. The new development application will include a defined power supply option.
The company plans to be in regular consultation with key community stakeholders to reaffirm its support across all areas of community engagement and existing sponsorship programs..
From the exhibition process of the initial Bowdens Project development application and associated environmental impact statement in May 2020, the company says it has received no objections to the project from any government agencies and received resounding public support with 79% of all organisation and general public submissions in favour of the project.
Further, an optimisation study for the project, which began in 2023, remains on track for completion this year.
The study is showing that the project can potentially be developed and operated with even less environmental impact than the 2018 Feasibility Study design, with current plans considering a reduced development footprint across the open pit mine, waste rock emplacement and the tailings storage facility.
Silver Mines says the 2018 Feasibility Study indicated that the project’s development will produce 52.9 million ounces of silver, 108 kilotonnes of zinc, and 79.3 kilotonnes of lead over an initial 16.5 year mine life.
The Bowdens Project is expected to create over 320 direct jobs during construction and over 220 full-time jobs. The company says the project is expected to deliver long-term economic and social benefits for New South Wales and local communities across the Mid-Western regional council areas.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Silver Mines
