Regis a step closer to low-cost gold mine in NSW
Regis Resources has kicked off the next stage of environmental approval process for its McPhillamys gold mine.
West Australian gold miner Regis Resources has kicked off the next stage of environmental approval process for its McPhillamys gold mine, asking the federal government to tick off its plans for the NSW mine.
McPhillamys has the potential to be a big, low-cost earner for Regis, and is seen as the key to the company’s growth prospects by analysts. It had previously attracted vigorous opposition from locals in drought-stricken central NSW, largely due to the water needed by its processing plant.
Regis had planned to buy treated water from the Bathurst Regional council, but rejigged those plans after community concern. It now plans to pipe 13 megalitres of water 90km from Centennial Coal’s Angus Place colliery near Lithgow.
Regis managing director Jim Beyer told The Weekend Australian the federal process was the next step for the company and Regis expected to submit an extensive environmental impact statement to the NSW government by the end of June.
He said the company hoped it could tick off the environmental approval process for the mine within 12 to 18 months, but was taking a conservative approach and believed it could have McPhillamys in production within three years. “We’re taking a bit of care to make sure we bring the community with us. There are plenty of people around central NSW that see the value of mining, given Cadia isn’t far away. But others are more sceptical and we want to bring them with us too,” he said.
“We hope they will. Water has been one of the major concerns in the area, but the water infrastructure we’re building, to take surplus water from Centennial’s colliery, will still be useful long after our mine has closed down.”
The open pit mine will cost about $215 million to build, and deliver about 192,000 ounces of gold a year to Regis when it’s operating, at a projected all-in-sustaining cost of about $990 an ounce, according to the results of Regis’ prefeasibility study.
Regis bought the 2.3 million ounce deposit from Newmont for $157m in shares in 2012, as part of its plans to diversify.