Secures Critical Nolans Water Supply For 25 Years
Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has been officially granted Mineral Leases (MLs) for areas supporting the company’s 100 percent owned Nolans Neodymium- Praseodymium (NdPr) Project by the Northern Territory Government.
The MLs, which will host the Nolans borefield, were granted to Arafura’s wholly owned subsidiary Arafura Rare Earths Pty Ltd (ARE) for an initial term of 25 years by the Northern Territory Minister for Mining and Industry to provide exclusive access for the construction, use and maintenance of the borefield to support the operations of the mine and processing plant. T
The Leases also enable the construction of a water diversion channel around the mining area as required under the Projects environmental approval conditions.
The borefield was identified by Arafura following a successful exploration and investigation program in a previously unexplored basin area approximately 20km southwest of the Nolans site. The groundwater aquifer system covers a large area, is high yielding and is of a quality that is suitable to supply the Nolans Project with water over its planned life.
Since identifying this resource in 2013, Arafura has maintained a monitoring program for ongoing collection of data which is integral to the Company’s environmental and resource sustainability management.
Managing Director, Grant Lockyer, said the granting of the leases provides Arafura with security of tenure of this resource under the Mining Act.
Subject to funding, the company anticipates commencement of the next phase of borefield development which will include stratigraphic diamond drilling to finalise understanding of the exact ground conditions and enable final production bore design.
This drilling will be completed in parallel with the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Project, reading the project for the commencement of construction.
