Name of the Project
North Perth Basin mineral sands project.

Location
North Perth basin, Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Mineral sands-focused mining company 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 announced on January 9 that construction progress remained on track to start the commissioning and first HMC production in the first quarter of 2025.

Following the bush fire that passed through the project area during the final week of November 2024, construction crews returned to the site to resume all site development activities.

Despite the lost time for the emergency evacuation of the site, construction progressed rapidly during December and renewed confidence in achieving the original goal of early-stage commissioning and first HMC production before the end of March 2025.

Image Resources has also initiated a drawdown of funds from the $20-million HMC prepayment facility arranged with its long-standing HMC offtake partner Shantou Natfort Zirconium and Titanium (Natfort), that was announced on October 24, 2024.

Prepayment facility funds will be used to cover working capital requirements, including corporate costs and prerevenue Atlas operating costs.

In late December, Image drew down $5-million. The balance is expected to be received in the first quarter of 2025 as construction winds down.

Even though construction at Atlas was delayed by more than 12-months, owing to permitting delays, the company has maintained its commitment for capital costs for Atlas to be largely self-funded from cash reserves from Boonanarring.

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.