Lots of articles coming out now clarifying the issue.SARAH...

Lots of articles coming out now clarifying the issue.

SARAH MARTIN
September 22, 2009 11:25am
SOUTH Australia's next major mine - the $90m uranium mine at Four Mile in the northern Flinders Ranges - has been delayed.

Alliance Resources, the joint-venture partner in what will be SA's fourth uranium mine, announced yesterday the project had been delayed until ``April, 2010 or beyond''.

Alliance managing director Patrick Mutz put the blame on joint-venture partner Quasar and Native Title requirements from Primary Industries and Resources SA.

PIRSA said neither joint-venture partner had been able to meet its obligations related to registering a Native Title agreement and the matter was ``an issue between the parties''.

Alliance's announcement comes after Heathgate Resources, associated with Four Mile through affiliate Quasar, announced yesterday it had discovered a major new uranium deposit north of Beverley.

But Mr Mutz said the new discovery was not the cause of the Four Mile delay. ``There should be absolutely no connection to that whatsoever,'' Mr Mutz said.

"There is a portion of the Beverley plant capacity that is being retained by Heathgate - they are not giving up their entire capacity on the Beverley mine to the Four Mile venture.''

He said the delay for the commissioning of Four Mile was due to ``Quasar's inability to begin on-site construction at Four Mile''.

He also said PIRSA had requested additional information from the joint venture, which had delayed the issuing of a mining lease.

"The Native Title agreement, which has been signed, has to be registered as part of the requirements of PIRSA before they can offer a mining lease to the joint venture and, in order for the agreement to be registered, it has to check a number of boxes for PIRSA; that is the process we are still working through,'' Mr Mutz said.

He was unable to provide a timeframe for the project proceeding.

"It is always difficult to pre-empt how long a regulatory issue will take,'' he said.

State Minister for Mineral Resources Development Paul Holloway said he was disappointed by the delay.

He said the Government had supported the project since its inception and PIRSA had attempted to facilitate the approval process.

"Resolution of the outstanding requirement remains an issue between the parties to the joint venture,'' Mr Holloway said.