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Progress on Approval of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Nxuu Deposit Infill Drilling Programme
The final EIA was lodged with DEP early in February 2024.
On 4 September 2024, the DEP in Maun, Botswana, emailed the Company’s Environmental Consultants advising that following its review of the Revised EIA for the Nxuu Project it can now proceed to the next step being a Public Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Nxuu Deposit Infill drilling programme.
DEP has requested the Company submit a draft public review notification to them for endorsement prior to placement in a Government Gazette and newspaper, inviting written comments and/or objections. The draft notification should state:
a) The nature and magnitude of activity.
The nature and magnitude of activity can only be described as being negligible, consisting of some 2,600m of infill HQ diamond core drilling.
b) The location of the activity.
The location of the activity is within Tribal Land used for cattle grazing.
c) The anticipated environmental impacts of the activity.
The anticipated environmental impacts of the drilling activity can only be described as being negligible as previous drilling in the area has all been approved by local communities.
d) The proposed mitigation measures to respond to negative environmental impacts.
Mitigation measures to respond to negative environmental impacts have not been required when conducting previous drilling. The HQ diamond core is cased for extraction. Chemicals used during cased core extraction do not cause any environmental hazards. All onsite personnel are required to comply with the Company’s Environmental Plan.
Progress Summary
The Company has now reached a stage where:
- A DRAFT of a proposed FINAL EIA was approved by DEP on 21 December 2023.
- After amendments requested by the DEP and applied to the DRAFT EIA, DEP advised on 4 September 2024 that the Final EIA, subject to their endorsement, is now ready to proceed to the Public Review stage.
- This allows for the publication of a FINAL EIA to be reviewed and responded-to within a two-week timeframe, by anyone involved in the area.
- Subject to there being no further issues raised through the publication of the EIA, the timeframe to the completion of the EIA review period is estimated to be in the region of four to six weeks.
- This will then allow the Company to schedule its 2,600m program of infill HQ diamond core drilling at the Nxuu Deposit, which will enable preparation of a Pre-feasibility Study to be followed by a Definitive Feasibility Study.
Prospecting Licence PL43/2016 – 100% Owned and Operated by MTB
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MCA Announces Women in Resources Award Winners
A former mining opponent, a brilliant materials engineer and a respected leader in the male-dominated offshore drilling space are among the winners of Australia’s 2024 Women in Resources National Awards announced in the nation’s capital this week.
Queensland University of Technology PhD student and BHP portfolio lead Ashara Moore followed up her Exceptional Young Woman in Queensland Resources award earlier this year by taking out the national award.
Group manager of materials and innovation at Western Australia-based Callidus Process Solutions, Dr Evelyn Ng, took out the Maptek Woman in Resources Technological Innovation award.
Dr Evelyn Ng
Head of energy group Woodside Energy’s global wells and seismic arm, Josie Fourie, received the Dyno Nobel Exceptional Woman in Australian Resources award. The winner of the 2024 WA Outstanding Woman in Resources award is a chemical engineer who has spent 25 years in the upstream energy sector, becoming the most senior woman in offshore drilling in Australia.
Josie Fourie
Moore, Ng and Fourie were among 29 women and four organisations nominated for six awards at the 11th annual Women in Resources National Awards in Canberra, hosted by the Minerals Council of Australia in partnership with the New South Wales Minerals Council, the Queensland Resources Council, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA, the Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council and the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy.
The awards are supported by Women in Mining Network state branches.
Queensland-based Kanae Dyas, workplace support manager at Anglo American, took out the Rio Tinto Inclusion and Diversity Champion in Australian Resources Award.
Nadine Hill, an openpit supervisor at Evolution Mining’s Cowal gold operation in NSW, won The Bloomfield Group Outstanding Tradeswoman/Operator/Technician Award.
Major mining services group Thiess headed four groups who were vying for the Mitsubishi Corporation Development Diversity Programs and Performance Award with its Mt Arthur South Indigenous/Inclusive Trainee Employment nomination.
WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy CEO Rebecca Tomkinson said Fourie and Ng were shining examples of the growing pool of talented women breaking new ground in the resources industry.
“Women comprise a growing proportion of the sector’s work force and they’re not just making up the numbers. In so many instances they are highly respected leaders driving innovation in their fields,” Tomkinson said.
“The industry has a long-standing focus on improving diversity. The benefits of that approach are on full display through the field of hugely impressive finalists selected for the 2024 awards.
“While much work has already been done, boosting female participation – from mine sites and laboratories through to the boardroom – remains a priority for the sector.
“Highlighting the achievements of exceptional women like Josie Fourie and Dr Evelyn Ng is a vital part of continuing to promote diversity and attracting the next generation of inspirational leaders.”
Ng, who started her career with First Quantum Minerals at Africa’s largest copper mine in Zambia, has worked on five continents and in her current role at Perth-based Callidus is said to be the only materials engineer among more than two dozen mechanical engineers in a company with over 300 employees.
Ng leads forensic investigations of plant and machine failures, developing quality assurance specifications, as well as overseeing the group’s R&D and intellectual property.
Two recent Callidus patents – one for a bi-metallic coating system and another involving titanium-nitride surface hardening – are seen to have potential to be game-changers in the mining industry.
Ashara Moore, who wants to change tailings management in mining, admitted in an interview after she won a 2023 Women in Industry Award in Queensland she had gone into a work experience interview with Rio Tinto “morally opposed” to the industry.
She said after early exposure to the industry and then starting her career she came to see it “was trying to do and be better [and] it was a sector that I thought I could make a positive difference within”.
Through her QUT PhD study Moore wants to develop a new carbon reduction technology (CRT) that can help mines cut emissions and positively impact future management of tailings.
“I am pro finding solutions to ensuring that our sector can peacefully co-exist with our environment,” Moore has said.
“Tailings management … is the avenue in which I wish to play my part.
“My PhD study is just one very small, very niche segue toward achieving that goal.
“By targeting mining waste, one of the most substantial potential environmental impactors within industry, and hopefully finding more sustainable and responsible ways of managing this waste, I hope to contribute to the ESG agenda gaining momentum in the sector.
“I am hoping to achieve a new normal about the way we think about tailings waste.”
Last August she presented her preliminary findings to the World Chemistry Conference in the Hague, Netherlands.
IMARC applauds winners of this year’s 2024 Women in Resources National Awards.
So far, more than 130 confirmed speakers at this year’s International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney are women, ranging in roles from the C-suite through to undergraduate students. IMARC's Balance for Better commitment also includes the working partnerships with industry groups IWIMRA, WISER, WIMnet NSW, WIMARA, to name a few.
IMARC chief operating officer Anita Richards says the large contingent of female speakers reflects the event’s “unwavering commitment to balance for better, an initiative dedicated to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout the mining sector”.
