General News
2 May, 2025
New exploration licence
On Tuesday, April 29, the Resources Regulator announced it had approved an Exploration Licence for an area between Stawell and Warracknabeal targeting a mineral formation known as the Jackson deposit.
Exploration of Jackson Deposit near Rupanyup
The licence EK008516 allows a subsidiary of Astron Corporation, Jackson Mineral Sands Pty Ltd, to look for evidence of minerals over an area to the west and north of Rupanyup.
The approval of an Exploration Licence does not allow mining to occur.
Director of Statutory Authorisations, Resources Victoria, Laura Helm said, "The criteria for granting an exploration licence include whether the applicant is fit and proper, has a suitable program of work, and is likely to be able to fund their activities.
"If a commercially viable deposit is identified, a separate process toward mining involves further assessment, local engagement, and regulatory approvals," the announcement said.
The new Exploration Licence is for an area about one kilometre from Astron's existing Donald Mineral Sands Project, which was granted a Mining Licence 9MIN5532 in 2012 and has a work plan assessment.
Donald Mine Community sessions
Community sessions hosted by the Donald Mine Project in February attracted about 70 people to hear from the recently appointed General Manager of Operations, Grant Huggins.
In the April quarterly Donald Project Digest, Managing Director Tiger Brown said, "Grant's experience establishing and managing three mineral sands sites in Victoria makes him the ideal person to guide this project forward."
Mr Huggins' experience includes the development of green and brownfield mining operations, executive roles at Bluescope and New Zealand Steel, and management of mines in the Murray Basin.
The meeting was hosted by Mr Huggins and GM Sustainability Jessica Reid, with Mark Williams from GWM Water attending to answer questions about water allocation to the mining project and how it would affect communities in times of drought.
Mr Huggins began to present a slide show of rehabilitation, and regrowth on a mine site but was interrupted partway through by a member of the public who said farmers did not have time to take two hours out of their day to watch a slide show, they were there to get answers about the project and how it would affect the community, radiation concerns, water use and crop yield on rehabilitated land.
Mr Huggan's examples of the Iluka Douglas mine's successful rehabilitation were not accepted by the meeting, describing areas of land, they said, still not suitable to be cropped after more than a decade.
The Donald Mine Project near Minyip Mining Licence spans 2,784 hectares and is expected to have a life span of 42 years.
The Donald Mine is scheduled to begin Phase 1 production in the second half of 2025. Construction for Phase 2 is planned to commence in 2029, with commissioning planned for 2030.
The Douglas Mine is a mineral sands mine near the town of Balmoral, Victoria. It was established in 2006 to mine rutile and zircon and then closed in 2012 after extracting an estimated 7.5 million tonnes of mineral sands from the mine.