article from todays young witness

Mine site inspected
WENDY BAUER
2/07/2008 8:59:00 AM
THE Mayor of Young Gerry Bailey has expressed increased confidence that Chinese and Australian joint venture partners would succeed in establishing a nickel and cobalt mine near the town.
This follows the weekend’s visit from leading executives from two Chinese companies who signed early agreements with the Australian mining lease holder, Jervois Mining.

The chairman and the deputy chairman and chief engineer of the China Railway Resource Company and the director of the Yunnan Jiaming company were part of a delegation to visit Young at the weekend and were accompanied by Melbourne based Jervois mining representatives.

The three companies recently signed an agreement to advance a huge nickel project near Young with China Railway Resource Group to invest an initial $45 million and Yunnan Jiaming Technology providing technological expertise.

Since the signing in China in early June an early contractual arrangement to pay Jervois Mining an initial $1million payment has been honoured.

Mr Bailey said the visit from the high ranking Chinese delegation was an important step in the process, revealing that it was aimed to have a pilot plant operating by 2010 and pledging Young Shire Council’s assistance to smooth the path in the development application processes.

“We will be the first port of call, we will liase with them and help facilitate with the processes.

He said the pilot plant would process 3000 tonnes of nickel yearly, with the second stage advancement to the major plant would mine 50,000 tonnes of nickel per year.

“It is a wonderful thing for Young, it is always good to have something that doesn’t depend on the weather and there is such a big deposit that even at this preliminary stage it looks like there is 20 to 25 years of nickel there.

Mr Bailey and shire general manager Adrian Hanrahan dined with the visitors.

Jervois geologist Sanja Van Huet said the company was involved in preliminary negotiations with the Young landholders and said during their time in the district the Chinese visitors were keen to examine gas, electricity, and road infrastructure.

She said they also examined housing stocks, and were impressed with the general topography of the area.

It has been estimated that as many as 30 workers would be required to set up the pilot plant for the project, with a workforce or around 250 people to man the operation long term.

Ms Van Huet said the issue of water had not been resolved, and that there were consultations underway with the Primary Industry Department. She said the visit had been a friendly and productive one and the visitors had expressed admiration for the beautiful Young landscape and had enjoyed seeing kangaroos and sheep. The executives will return to China on Thursday.