Timeframes & CR?, page-4

New strategy for Rex Minerals' Yorke Peninsula Hillside project will achieve the same goals says founder Steven Olsen

ABC Rural
By Clint Jasper
3


Posted about 6 hours agoTue 12 Aug 2014, 10:52am
Photo: Rex Minerals' Steven Olsen says the vision and goals for the company's Hillside project are still the same. Read more. (Supplied: Rex Minerals)

Map: Ardrossan 5571
Rex Minerals didn't communicate the reasons for adopting a lower cost start-up for its Hillside project in South Australia to the market well enough, according to founding managing director Steven Olsen.
On Friday, Rex announced the results of a feasibility study which recommended adopting a lower-capital, staged approach to the project, which will see the company focus on extracting copper and gold reserves closer to the surface, which Mr Olsen says will help the company start the mine off at a smaller scale.
The staged approach to the mine is a cheaper way to get the project started, and will also give the community more time to adjust to the mine site, which it situated on 30 square kilometres of agricultural land on the Yorke Peninsula.
But Mr Olsen is keen to point out that Rex still intends to achieve all of the original goals for the project, just over a longer timeframe with a staged rollout.
Rex saw its share price drop and nervousness among investors as the company announced its plans last week, but Mr Olsen says major investors are now on board with the new strategy.
"We did not communicate very well the fact that we're still focused on the large-scale mine, and that the results so far have been really strong.
"Early on ,the belief was that we had in fact looked to scale back, but as we've talked to major shareholders we now believe some of that misinformation will be corrected."
On the same day the results of the feasibility study were announced, managing director Mark Parry also stood down, but Mr Olsen says the two announcements were not related.
When the South Australian Government granted Rex Minerals the tenements for the mine, it came with a long list of conditions that haven't yet been made public.
Mr Olsen says they won't be revealed until the company concludes talks with the regulator, DMITRE.
He says the conditions cover the mine's visual amenity, the size and scale of the waste and all key areas of concern that were raised during the consultation process.
Topics: mining-rural, mining-environmental-issues, mining-industry, company-news, community-development, ardrossan-5571
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