The managing director of Alkane's billion dollar Dubbo Zirconia project (DZP) Ian Chalmers says a delay in the planning process into the proposed mine is costing his company a large amount of money and hurting the Dubbo economy.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I absolutely shudder to think about the amount of money this delay is costing our company. It's substantial, very substantial and yes it's costing Dubbo millions in jobs and the local council also major dollars," he said.
"We can't complete our financing program and this is costing the project money which is critical for the beginning of the mine."
The NSW Minister for Planning Pru Goward has asked for action on the project.
The NSW Department of Planning and Environment told Fairfax Media it expects to finalise its preliminary assessment of the Dubbo Zirconia Project in coming weeks.
Mr Chalmers says Alkane now doesn't expect approval until November or December of this year pushing back time lines for the start of the mine which expects to employ more than 300 people in its set up and 250 permanently, many of these sourced locally in the Dubbo region. Alkane expected a result by September.
"The approval of the Tomingley took about 23 months for a simple basic mine and we expected the environmental assessment for the Zirconia Project to take 12 months and its already taken 14. We have no clear view of where this is going," Mr?Chalmers said.
"This call by the minister makes no difference from where we have been before. We see no significant impediment to going forward in relation the environmental assessment and a reasonable observer would say this is bogged down."
"It's a very frustrating time for us and is beyond our control, people must be questioning is something wrong with the planning system.
"We were only made aware of the latest news when you called us and told us. We knew we were at this point but were only advised when you called us."
The Dubbo Zirconia project (DZP) expects to inject at least $50 million into salaries and wages and additional dollars to contractors and ancillary activity and the managing director of Alkane said this would delay money flowing into the local economy.
The mine would boost the coffers of the Dubbo City Council with more than $9 million raised through a Voluntary Planning Agreement with the mine operator over a 20 year period.
Alkane is also investigating a limestone quarry project near Geurie which would also employ people in the Wellington Local Government Area and create dollars for its local economy if it went ahead.
Ms Goward has asked for the Planning Assessment Commission to consider issues raised in submissions and to assess the merits of the project as a whole, also look at likely air quality impacts, including any exposure to radioactive material; water impacts; transport impacts; and long term land use impacts of the project, including the suitability and feasibility of the proposed rehabilitation strategy; and recommend any measures to further avoid, minimise, and/or manage the potential impacts of the project.
