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noRtHeRn teRRItoRY sPotLIGHt

he Northern Territory Government has further emphasised the importance
T of the mining sector to the State’s economic recovery with Thor Mining plc’s
Molyhil tungsten-molybdenum project granted major project status last month.
A 2018 DFS on Molyhil indicated $69 million would be required to build the
project, which is estimated to generate more than $500 million in revenue over
the seven-year mine life. The mine will support 59 jobs (plus an additional 40
during construction) in Alice Springs. Operations at Molyhil will start 12 months
after funding is secured, with Thor to make a final investment decision by the
end of the year. Production would follow in 2023. Core Lithium Ltd is also down
the financing path at its Finniss lithium project and is expected to make a final
investment decision around the same time as Thor. Finniss is significant in the
fact that it was Australia’s first lithium mine to be approved outside of Western
Australia when the NT Government greenlighted the project development in
April. Finniss, a one-hour drive from Darwin, was also the first mine of scale to
be approved for development in NT since 2013. Core has estimated that in the
first three years of operation the 2 mtpa Finniss lithium project will generate more
than $500 million in revenue and provide over 200 jobs for Territorians.
s Paydirt finds out this month, Core and Thor are among a number of
A companies making good progress in NT, which was preparing to reopen
its borders at the time of print as the latest round of Geophysics and Drilling
Collaborations grants were awarded. The programme is part of NT’s four-year,
$26 million Resourcing the Territory 2018 Budget initiative, which included
geoscience and industry stimulus programmes. Resourcing the Territory
initiative is the biggest investment by any of the State’s Governments with the
programmes providing co-funding for drilling and geophysical programmes
for an array of commodities in areas of the NT where geological information is
scarce.The Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations programme was beefed up
in 2018 with the inclusion of a NT supplier incentive, providing up to $10,000
per project in additional funding to support service and supply by NT-based
companies. The minerals industry is the largest sector in the State and
contributes about 18% gross state product, with the value of mineral production
of $4.92 billion in the last financial year a record for NT. Extensive drilling in late 2019/early 2020 allowed
Core to add 157% to Finniss reserves in June

Core ready to finesse Finniss

ore Lithium Ltd continues to close in form of an updated feasibility study which benefits to the Territory of having a long
Con an investment decision to build the will build on the April 2019 DFS which es- life project,” he said.
Northern Territory’s first lithium mine, po- timated a $73 million capex for 175,000 Core already has a binding offtake
tentially opening the NT to an entire new tpa spodumene production at $US300/t agreement for 75,000 tpa concentrate
industry. opex. with Sinchuan Yahua Industrial Group
Core updated reserves and proposed “We have expanded the resource, and in May it signed a non-binding MoU
mine life for its Finniss lithium project at the reserve and the mine life and could with Geneva-based Transamine over a
the end of June, extending the former by potentially expand production. And, the further 50,000 tpa concentrate. Biggins
157% and the latter by potentially three longer mine life opens the opportunity to said the increased size of Finniss made
years with the addition of underground plug into the grid,” Biggins said. further agreements more likely.
material. Biggins believes capital requirements “We already had more offtake inter-
The extensions came just months after will remain fairly static despite the in- est than we could produce but now we’re
Core received final government approv- creased mine life but the bulked up re- seeing a larger number and scale of or-
als for Finniss, paving the way for a final serves could have larger ramifications for ganisations engaging with us off the back
investment decision before the end of the company, particularly when it comes of the increased reserves,” he said. “We
2020. to marketing. are at the start of the lithium battery sup-
“The next few months is about putting “We always recognised that if we could ply chain’s diversification to meet global
all the pieces of the jigsaw from the last extend the mine life and show the wider EV expansion. China has been the en-
12 months together,” Core managing di- potential of the project it would not only gine room to date and we have good re-
rector Stephen Biggins told Paydirt. improve the economics but give greater lationships there but other automakers
The completed jigsaw will take the confidence to offtakers, and extend the are wanting to develop their own supply

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