Tivan (ASX:TVN) is gearing up to begin ground-disturbing works next week at the Speewah Fluorite Project in Western Australia, after securing cultural heritage clearances to proceed at the site.
The $84.89 million market capitalised company has been engaging with the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) and traditional owners to protect cultural heritage and native title rights in the project area.
Both Tivan and KLC recently formalised a variation to the heritage protection agreement to extend the tenement area to include three Speewah mining leases, and a miscellaneous lease, to ensure inclusivity of the Speewah Fluorite Project and the Speewah Vanadium Titanomagnetite Project.
Over the past six months, the company has facilitated cultural heritage surveys for its proposed works at the project, providing the basis for which Tivan is able to proceed with its planned programs.
To pave the way for drilling, the company has also secured a ‘licence to take water’ under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914, by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
The water licence is valid through to 6 April 2025. Tivan intends to apply for a long-term licence during the interim period.
Executive Chairman Grant Wilson says Tivan’s board acknowledges the constructive working relationship between the company and traditional owners in order to complete the extensive cultural heritage processes.
“These workflows have enabled Tivan to commence on country in good time, whilst also establishing the foundations for durable alignment through the project life cycle,” Wilson says.
Following a competitive tendering process, Tivan has also awarded the first contract for civil works to Ngarranggarni Civil and Mining.
Tivan says the award furthers the company’s aim of prioritising local contractors where commercially feasible and furthering Aboriginal businesses and employment opportunities.
“These objectives will be pursued in all future tender processes for the Speewah Fluorite Project,” the company adds.
Fluorite is a mineral that is widely used in the industrial sector, such as cement, glass, ceramics, and metallurgy. It is considered a strategic resource with deposits found in different types worldwide, and is primarily used in the process of flotation for efficient separation due to its similar properties with gangue minerals.
The Speewah Project lies in the Kimberley region of north-east Western Australia and is considered to have a unique resource as it hosts two separate critical mineral deposits — fluorite and vanadium.
Tivan is a critical minerals-focused company based in Darwin, Northern Territory. The company’s assets are considered prospective for fluorite, vanadium, titanium, lead, silver, copper, tungsten, zinc, and bismuth.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Tivan
