Queensland Government gives green light for Sconi project

Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ) has been granted a mining lease from the Queensland Government for its Sconi project at Greenvale.

Now that it has been given the green light, around 780 jobs will be on offer in North Queensland.

The $1.4b Sconi project has a planned life of 30 years, processing two million tonnes of ore per year with the project planned for commissioning in 2028.

Once operational, the open-cut mine and adjoining processing plant is expected to produce around 47,000t of nickel sulphate, 7000t of cobalt sulphate and 89t of scandium oxide.

Queensland minister for resources Scott Stewart said the granting of the mining lease is a vote of confidence.

“Around the world, communities are demanding and making the shift towards a cleaner, greener low-emission economy,” he said.

“Queensland has an abundance of the critical minerals the world needs to decarbonise.

“The Sconi project is a vote of confidence in Queensland’s resources sector and means more good jobs for the state’s north.

“The Palaszczuk Government is backing the development of the state’s critical minerals sector through the recently released Queensland critical minerals strategy as well as our $5b CopperString 2032 electricity transmission line.

“And planning is well underway on the $75m Queensland resources common user facility, a multi-user, multi-purpose warehouse designed to prove up the commercial viability of critical minerals in Queensland.”