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thewest.com.au

Plibersek set to reject $1b Regis Resources gold project

Adrian RausoThe West AustralianFri, 16 August 2024 2:07PMCommentsCommentsPremiumEmail Adrian Rauso

2 - 3 minutes

Environment Minister Plibersek will reject Regis Resources’ McPhillamys gold project, sources say

Regis Resources is set to emerge from a trading halt and announce that approval of its McPhillamys gold project has been overturned by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Regis ducked into a trading halt on Friday afternoon pending a formal announcement about a Section 10 application under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 against its $1 billion McPhillamys development in New South Wales.

Sources tell The West that Minister Plibersek has ruled in favour of the application.

Under Section 10 of the Act, an application can be made to the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to request the protection and preservation of significant Aboriginal areas.

Regis had been stuck in bureaucratic purgatory since October 2020 when a Wiradyuri Elder submitted the Section 10 application against McPhillamys.

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There is no statutory timeframe for the Environment Minister — which since 2022 has been Tanya Plibersek — to make a ruling on the application, creating a bureaucratic black hole that has angered mining groups.

The company had received all other substantive State and Federal approvals.

Regis, which is led by Jim Beyer, released a definitive feasibility study for McPhillamys project in the Central Tablelands of NSW last month.

The DFS revealed $996 million would be needed to develop the mine, including $73m of contingency and $70m of pre-production operating costs that were capitalised.

The study estimated McPhillamys could produce 1.71 million ounces of gold across a mine life of 9.4 years, with peak annual production of 235,000oz and an average of 187,000ozpa at full production.

More to come.