Name of the Project
North Perth Basin mineral sands project.

Location
North Perth basin, Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Image Resources.

Project Description
The Boonanarring and Atlas deposits form part of Image Resources’ North Perth Basin mineral sands project, which represents one of the highest-grade mineral sands resources under evaluation worldwide.

Boonanarring has a resource of 30.3-million tonnes at 6% heavy minerals, with a mineral assemblage that includes 20.4% zircon. The reserve is 10.7-million tonnes at 8.9% heavy minerals, with a mineral assemblage that includes 27.5% zircon.

The Boonanarring deposit will be mined first using conventional, dry and openpit mining techniques to extract the ore, and standard gravity separation in a wet concentration plant (WCP) to recover the contained heavy minerals into a heavy minerals concentrate (HMC) for sale. The HMC will be transported by road to a storage facility at Bunbury, where it will be loaded onto ships and transported in bulk to China.

Once mining at Boonanarring has been concluded, the WCP will be relocated to the Atlas deposit. Mining at Atlas will also be conducted using dry, opencut mining techniques. Over the life of the current ore reserves at Boonanarring, the HMC is expected to contain an estimated 610 000 t of ilmenite, 310 000 t of zircon, 25 000 t of rutile and 14 000 t of leucoxene.

The Atlas project is expected to start operation when Boonanarring is depleted, at which time key infrastructure, including the existing WCP, will be relocated from Boonanarring to Atlas.

At Atlas, production of about 210 000 t/y of HMC for 711 000 t/y is envisaged over the life-of-mine. The project has a resource of 18.1-million tonnes at 6% heavy minerals, with a mineral assemblage that includes 9.3% zircon, 46% ilmenite, 4% leucoxene and 6.5% rutile. Mineral reserves are estimated at 9.5-million tonnes at 8.1% heavy minerals, with a mineral assemblage that includes 10.6% zircon, 51% ilmenite, 4.5% leucoxene and 7.5% rutile.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value of A$235-million and an internal rate of return of 125%, with a payback of 13 months.

Capital Expenditure
Total developmental capital is estimated at A$51.7-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Image has an aggressive construction schedule, with ambitions for first HMC production late in the fourth quarter 2024 or early first quarter 2025, leading to first revenue in the first quarter of 2025.

Latest Developments
Image Resources has received approval of the mining proposal – that covers the construction and operation of the Atlas project.

It has also received notice of the proposed conditions for approval of the Atlas development proposal under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

The company has provided its response on the proposed conditions and final Commonwealth approval is expected in early August.

The remaining required approvals include the groundwater operating strategy (GOS), an offset environmental management plan (OEMP) and the Banksia Woodlands Rehabilitation Environmental Management Plan (BWREMP).

Approval of the GOS, the OEMP and the BWREMP are expected in early August, which will allow for the start of construction at Atlas in the third quarter. The approval of the GOS will result in the project’s being awarded a water abstraction licence.

MD and CEO Patrick Mutz has noted that scheduling of contractor mobilisation to Atlas is progressing in anticipation of receipt of the final permits this month and the start of project construction.

The early works camp construction is well under way and deconstruction of the Boonanarring WCP has started. “The next six months are slated to see a flurry of construction activities, with a stretch goal of commencing project commissioning at the end of December,” Mutz has said. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Image Resources, tel +61 8 9485 2410, fax +61 8 94868312 or email info@imageres.com.au.