About 50 jobs and significant environmental benefits are expected from a North-West minerals project expected to start production in September or October.
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NQ Minerals’ Hellyer project will reprocess tailings from past mining at the mothballed Hellyer Mine.
The refurbished and modernised mill was to be switched on on Monday.
The tailings storage contained high grade gold, silver, lead, zinc and pyrite, the director of NQ subsidiary Hellyer Gold Mines, Steve White, said.
“Once the tailings are reprocessed, there will be a roughly 50 per cent reduction in volume and the residue will be stored in a new, modern tailings dam on site,” he said.
“The existing tailings dam will remain as a lake once it’s emptied.”
He said local contractors had already started remediation work on legacy environmental issues from past mining.
“The project has a fully developed transport and animal protection plan and will be the first private project in Tasmania to use virtual fencing onsite,” Mr White said.
“This system emits a high pitched sound when a vehicle approaches, scaring any animals away from the road.”
He said Hellyer Gold Mines was employing as many local people and local contractors as possible.
It would employ about 50 people full-time when the project was up and running.
