Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The South Australian government has given privately owned Cu-River Mining Australia some A$397 000 in funding to assist with the restart of the Cairn Hill iron-ore mine.
The funding, in the form of a grant through the Regional Development Fund, is expected to assist in creating more than 60 jobs at the Cairn Hill operation, and will be used to establish the infrastructure required for the operation, including the processing plant, road upgrades for heavy vehicle traffic, water lines and electricity supply.
The operation will focus on extracting and processing high-grade magnetite iron-ore containing residual copper from the Cairn Hill mine, 55 km south of Coober Pedy.
The processed ore will be exported under agreement to China.
“This project is expected to create 61 ongoing full-time jobs in addition to 20 jobs during construction, which will have a significant, positive impact on the community and the state,” said South Australian Regional Development Minister Geoff Brock.
“Local employees will be preferentially sourced, however, there is potential for suitable candidates to relocate to local communities, which would bring additional economic benefit to the region.
“The project will enhance the economic prosperity of Coober Pedy and improve the social wellbeing of the town and its surrounding areas.”
Cu-River Mining Australia acquired the project in 2014 from the liquidation of Termite Resources, and contains an existing run-of-mine stockpile of some 300 000 t of material, which will be processed for export.
The mine operated for less than four years, before it was closed.
The mine’s infrastructure project will invest some A$1.5-million into the local economy.