The Atlas mineral sands project, north of Perth, is advancing to final Ministerial approval, ASX-listed Image Resources said on Monday.
This comes as a three-week review period following the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA’s) recommendation of the development plan for Altas passed without any appeals.
“Being advised no appeals were filed regarding EPA’s recommendation to implement the development of Atlas is another very positive step forward in the overall project development plan.
“This news not only reduces the total time for Image to return to active mining and revenue generation by three to six months, but also speaks to the quality of the application to meet the necessary environmental protection requirements,” said MD and CEO Patrick Mutz.
The next steps for Atlas include Ministerial approval, approval of management plans and securing secondary project approvals to allow commencement of construction and mining.
Image has set a goal of starting construction early in the third quarter, mining and commissioning in the fourth quarter and heavy mineral concentrate production in the first quarter of next year.
Atlas is a high-grade mineral sands deposit containing 5.5-million tonnes of ore reserves at 9.2% total heavy minerals and with 96% of contained heavy minerals in the proved ore reserves category.