Name of the Project
Goschen mineral sands and rare earths project.

Location
VHM intends to develop a mine near Swan Hill, in Victoria, and a rare earth mineral refinery at an established site in regional South Australia.

Project Owner/s
VHM.

Project Description
The Goschen deposit contains about 300-million tonnes of ore and is proposed to produce a zircon and rutile concentrate, titanium concentrate and a rare-earth concentrate.

The project is expected to produce and export a combination of about 3 000 t/y of refined rare-earth oxide products, and about 14 000 t/y of mixed heavy rare-earth carbonate concentrate, along with 500 000 t/y of zircon and titanium minerals.

The proposal includes the development of a mineral sands mine, a mining unit plant, a wet concentrator plant, an interim tailings storage facility (TSF), solar drying beds for tailings, slurry pipelines to transfer ore from pits to the processing facilities and additional site infrastructure.

Proposed mining methods involve openpit mining to extract about five-million tonnes of ore a year, increasing to ten-million tonnes a year over a projected mine life of 30 years. Mine products are proposed to be transported by road or by rail for export overseas.

Potential Job Creation
The project is expected to support 500 direct new jobs during construction and 300 direct ongoing jobs over a minimum period of 20 years.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
A$850-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
The project has been awarded major project status.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
VHM, email info@vhmltd.com.au.