The proposal is to establish a heavy mineral sand mining and processing operation. The proposed minesite is located at Cooljarloo near Cataby, approximately 170 km north of Perth. Initial processing at the site would produce a heavy mineral concentrate which is proposed to be transported by road to a dry processing plant at Muchea 40 km north of Perth.
Mining of the deposits would be carried out using a single stage suction dredge to mine the upper level strands. A second dredge would then be required to strip overburden covering the deeper deposits. This would allow for each area to be mined out in one pass, so that temporary stabilisation and rehabilitation of these areas would not be required.
The mining dredge would pump the ore directly to a wet concentrator plant which would float directly behind the dredge in the dredge pond. As the dredge proceeds along the mine path a sequence of tailings placement, slime deposition and drying and rehabilitation would be carried out progressively in the wake of the dredging operations. Following mining and initial onsite concentration the produced heavy mineral concentrate would be trucked to the proposed dry process plant near Muchea.
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