Name of the Project
Boonanarring and Atlas mineral sands project.

Location
North Perth basin, Western Australia.

Client
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 current reserves of 20-million tonnes grading 7.2% heavy minerals (HM). Atlas has total reserves of 9.5-million tonnes grading 8.1% HM.

A bankable feasibility study (BFS) on the project has proposed mining the Boonanarring deposit 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 HM 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.

The Boonanarring mining schedule has been designed based on average mining rates of up to 3.7-million tonnes a year of ore to a slurry mining unit and three-million tonnes of rougher head feed at the WCP. Mining and related ancillary activities will be conducted by a mining contractor. Once mining at Boonanarring has been completed, 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.

At Atlas, which is at the prefeasibility study (PFS) stage, the BFS envisages production of about 210 000 t/y of HMC for 711 000 t/y over the life-of-mine. Over the life of the current ore reserves at Atlas, the HMC is expected to contain an estimated 340 000 t of ilmenite, 67 000 t of zircon, 50 000 t of rutile and 27 000 t of leucoxene. 

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

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

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

Duration
Construction started in March this year and is slated for commissioning and first production in the fourth quarter of this year.

Latest Developments
Higher zircon prices have enhanced the economics of the proposed Boonanarring and Altas mineral sands deposits.

Higher mineral resources prices have pushed up the project’s pretax NPV from the A$197-million estimated in November last year, to A$235-million.

The pretax IRR has also increased from 104% to 125%, while the payback period  has declined from 16 months to 13 months.

The capital cost estimate of A$52-million to develop the project has remained unchanged. Binding offtake agreements for the full production from the project, as well as the potential to extend the Boonanarring mine life, also remained in place.

The project is fully funded.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

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