General News
18 December, 2024
Mining pathway unfurled
Three proposed mineral mines in the Wimmera Mallee are among 13 highlighted in the new Victorian Critical Minerals Roadmap, released on Monday.
The government's document was unveiled by Minister for Energy and Resources and Climate Action Lily D'Ambrosio as the state's vision for the harvesting of specific minerals in coming years.
"Victoria is home to world-class deposits of critical minerals, vital for our transition to a net-zero future," Ms D'Ambrosio said in introducing the roadmap.
"The development of a Victorian critical minerals industry will bring further economic and social advantages to Victoria over the decades to come, creating in particular economic development opportunities and long-term, highly-skilled jobs within regional communities."
Referring to the Wimmera Mallee, the roadmap says: "With the north-west of Victoria rich in critical mineral resources ... the regional economic development strategies highlight opportunities ... to capitalise on the emerging critical minerals sector.
"The development of mineral sands projects will create high-value jobs, attract skilled workers and stimulate economic development including in secondary industries such as transportation and logistics.
"Preliminary economic modelling estimates that the mineral sands industry in north-west Victoria could support around 2000 additional jobs if the most advanced mineral sands projects move to production.
"This could increase to up to 7000 additional jobs if more of the mineral sand resources are produced."
The roadmap also states that "increased economic activity could have other impacts, including an increased demand for local housing, roads, schools, childcare, health and other services".
A map on page 9 of the report shows three proposed mine sites for the extraction of titanium, zirconium and rare-earth elements in this region: Avonbank near Horsham, Donald Mineral Sands near Minyip, and WIM150 between Horsham and Grampians National Park.
It also features a case study of WIM Resource's Avonbank test pit, established in 2019 and from which more than 11,000 tonnes of ore were removed.
"Following final rehabilitation, the site showed no material evidence of ground movement or erosion, and the estimated crop yield monitored through each growing season was similar or higher in the rehabilitated site than in the unmined areas in 2021 and 2022," the report said of Avonbank.
The full 36-page roadmap can be downloaded as a PDF from the Resources Victoria website: https://resources.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/1076321/Victorian-Critical-Minerals-Roadmap.pdf