zircon--a precious mineral, page-2

All you Mal lovers, better read below.Not good news and that is a massive understatement, down heavily on Monday is my thought.


Tiwi Islands project on hold pending environment report
By SUELLEN HINDE
23jul05
A full environmental impact statement (EIS) will have to be completed before work can start on a proposed mineral sands mine on the Tiwi Islands, it was revealed last night.







Territory Government spokesman Fred McCue last night said NT Environment Minister Marion Scrymgour would sign off on an EIS in the next day or two.

``We expect it would take six months or more to complete that process,'' he said.

``The company cannot do any work on the site until that process is complete.

``The EIS will go out for public comment in the next couple of weeks.''

But Matilda Minerals operations director Bruce Maluish said last night that the company did not expect the EIS process to take six months.

``We have already conducted a number of baseline studies with the Territory Office of Environment and Heritage,'' he said.

The company is so confident of the go-ahead for the project it has already built a $1 million heavy mineral concentrator for the Tiwi Island project.

The 120 tonne-per-hour gravity concentrator will be shipped from Kwinana in WA next week _ and is scheduled to arrive in Darwin early next month.

The West Australian company wants to mine about 200ha of sand dune country on the north coast of Melville Island for zircon and mineral sands over 2 years _ with the potential to expand.

The sand mine has received Federal Government approval for the grant of the mining lease which involved consulting the Tiwi Land Council.

The Environment Centre NT yesterday urged the NT Government to ensure the proposed mineral sands mine on Tiwi Islands was subject to a high-level EIS process.

ECNT co-ordinator Peter Robertson said: ``Mineral sands mines have a bad record around Australia for their environmental degradation of fragile coastal environments and under no circumstances should this proposal be taken lightly and rubber stamped.''