Bell Creek Nornico project (withdrawn)
Project summary
QLD Gold Pty Ltd was the proponent for the Bell Creek Nornico Project. QLD Gold Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Metallica Metals Limited. The Project was proposed to be located 30km south of Mt Garnet in north Queensland on Mining Lease Application (MLA) 20549. The proponent had proposed to mine lateritic ore and process it using a heap leach operation to produce nickel and cobalt hydroxides.
The project was being assessed by a voluntary environmental impact statement (EIS) under Part 1 of Chapter 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994. The terms of reference was finalised and issued to the proponent on 26 July 2007. However, on 1 March 2011 the proponent formally withdrew its application to voluntarily prepare an EIS for the Bell Creek Nornico project.
The proponent proposed to downgrade the project from a level 1 to a level 2 mining project as the processing of the 1.5 million tonnes per year (Mt/y) of mined laterite ore would now be done at the proposed Nornico North Project near Greenvale.
QLD Gold Pty Ltd has applied to incorporate MLA 20549 into a non-code compliant level 2 Environmental Authority (EA) of the Nornico North tenements (MLs 4187 & 4188, EPMs 11285, 10235, 14101 & 14518 and MDL 387).
QLD Gold Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Metallica Metals Limited) was developing a nickel and cobalt resource under existing Mining Lease (ML) 4187 and ML 4188 as well as Exploration Permit for Minerals (EPM) 11285 and EPM 14101. There are three main deposits at the project site, called Bell Creek, 30 km south of Mt Garnet in the Herberton Shire in north Queensland. The proponent submitted to the department an application to prepare a Voluntary Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and EHP approved the application on 26 February 2007. The department was managing the assessment of the project using the EIS process set out in part 1 of chapter 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act).
Development of the Bell Creek deposit was proposed to involve shallow mining from five open pits. Ore treatment was proposed to involve crushing, screening, agglomeration, heap leach, iron removal, mixed hydroxide precipitation and spent ore disposal. Mining was proposed to occur at a rate of approximately 1.5 Mt/y of run of mine (ROM) ore for at least 10 years. Waste rock was proposed to be disposed to dumps on site, while the final pit voids were proposed to be backfilled or left in a safe condition.
Associated with the ore processing facility would have been a sulfuric acid plant (using 406,000 t/y of sulphur and generating 10 mega watts of power), a limestone grinding and slurry plant using 350,000 t/y of limestone and a lime and magnesia plant using 96,000 t/y of slaked lime.
On-site purpose-built accommodation would have been provided for the project workforce of 132 staff.
The project site was proposed to be located in the upper catchment of the Herbert River. Water for the project was proposed to be sourced from groundwater, Bell Creek, or an impoundment on the ML, or a combination of these methods.
Vegetation on the site remains relatively undisturbed. While the proposed MLs would have covered approximately 2000 ha it was estimated that 380ha of vegetation would have needed to be cleared for the mining, processing and associated mining activities on site.
Final Terms of Reference (TOR)
The Terms of Reference was finalised and issued to the proponent on 26 July 2007.
The proponent was in the process of preparing the EIS which would have been made available for public notification. However, on 1 March 2011 the proponent formally withdrew its application to voluntarily prepare an EIS for the Bell Creek Nornico project.
Documents
- Final terms of reference 532 KB) (July 2007)
- Initial advice statement describing the project 4.7 MB) (February 2007)
Further information
For further information about the EIS process for the Bell Creek Nornico project, contact the EIS Coordinator on 13QGOV (13 74 68) or email eis@des.qld.gov.au