Ark Mines Limited has completed its environmental scoping study (ESS) including baseline environmental surveys, across its 140 square kilometre Sandy Mitchell Rare Earths (REE) and Heavy Minerals project, located near Chillagoe, North Queensland.
The surveys were carried out by Terra Solutions in partnership with Northern Environmental Testing and Compliance (NETC) – two specialist consulting groups with expertise in environmental regulatory compliance for upstream mining projects.
Executive Director Ben Emery said the completion of the environmental scoping study is an important milestone.
“The commissioning of the study was done in line with the company’s near-term strategy to expedite the development of this project by completing the full baseline environmental survey and accelerating the approval process.
“We are thankful to Terra Solutions and NETC for their significant work in mobilising for this survey, and look forward to providing more updates around pending assay results and ongoing project development in the months ahead.”
The ESS included:
- Collection of groundwater and surface water samples;
- Providing an overview of vegetation communities present, potential habitat for threatened species and other significant ecological values;
- Key flora and fauna habitat suitability assessment; and
- Initial scoping of aquatic ecosystems and development of baseline survey requirements.
The results will provide guidance on the required aquatic and terrestrial ecological assessments, along with the development of monitoring solutions and environmental management plans – all of which are key inputs to the mining approval process.
Ground and surface water monitoring continues, with the aim to collect a 12 month sample of survey data.
