barkly phosphate mine flags 30 years

September 23rd, 2009

A SECOND phosphate project in the Territory Outback seems to have hit paydirt - but the Northern Territory will get none of the value-added benefits.

Exploration company Phosphate Australia said it had found high-grade ore near the surface at its Highland Plains lease on the Barkly Tableland.

The 600sq km tenement runs along the Queensland border, 500km east of Tennant Creek.

It is not adjacent to the much bigger Minemakers lease - hoped to go into production in the middle of next year and named by Chief Minister Paul Henderson two weeks ago as one of the most exciting mining projects in the Territory.

It has been known since 1968 that Highland Plains held a good resource of phosphate. But the resource was never estimated to JORC rules.

Phosphate Australia has now made an inferred JORC-compliant resource estimate of 56 million tonnes.

But the grade is only 6 per cent and would have to be beneficiated up to an exportable 32 per cent. Phosphate Australia will concentrate on a high-grade resource of seven million tonnes.

This would produce about five million tonnes after beneficiation and support a mine for 10 years at 500,000 tonnes a year.

Company managing director Andrew James said a mine could be operational by 2011. But he said the ore would not be exported through Darwin.

"It's too far," he said.

The ore would instead be shipped out from one of the Gulf of Carpentaria ports.

"Highland Plains is 500km from Tennant Creek and then there's a further 1000km by train to Darwin," Mr James said.

"We could be at the Gulf within 300km."

A mine would also be more likely to be serviced from the Queensland town of Mt Isa than Tennant.

Phosphate Australia ran a "comprehensive" drilling program last year. About 130 holes were drilled.

Ore from the Minemakers Wonarah operation will be freighted 260km to Tennant and then sent by rail to Darwin for export.

The Perth-based company estimates the lease has 1105 million tonnes of phosphate, of which at least 167 million tonnes is high grade.

The aim is to export five million tonnes a year, giving a mine life of at least 30 years.



http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2009/09/23/86831_nt-business.html