Environmental approval notice issued by the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Water, Agriculture and Environment (DAWE)
BCI Minerals' Mardie Project gets federal government environmental approval. (Credit: Katarzyna Kosianok from Pixabay)
BCI Minerals Limited (ASX:BCI) (‘BCI’ or the ‘Company’) is pleased to announce that the Department of Water, Agriculture and Environment (DAWE) has issued the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act Approval, Decision Notice EPBC 2018/8236, for the Mardie Project.
The EPBC Act focuses on the protection of matters of national environmental significance. This is a key approval that complements the Western Australian (WA) Environmental Ministerial Statement 1175 (MS1175) issued on 24 November 2021. EPBC 2018/8236 and MS1175 were issued for the Mardie Project’s Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) development footprint, and act as overarching approvals which secondary approvals for the Project will need to align with.
BCI is on track to finalise all secondary approvals which will enable development to proceed as proposed in BCI’s Environmental Review Document (ERD), which includes all salt and SOP production facilities and associated port facilities within the DFS development footprint.
As outlined in BCI’s Optimised Feasibility Study announcement on 21 April 2021 and in the Ministerial Statement announcement on 25 November 2021, additional tenements acquired after the ERD submission will allow for a layout optimisation and expansion of production. This optimisation and expansion area will be subject to further environmental assessment and approvals over the next 12-months.
Commenting on the EPBC Decision Notice, BCI’s Managing Director, Alwyn Vorster, said: “The Federal Government’s support for Mardie is evidenced through a range of approvals, which also include $600 million of loan facilities and a “Major Project Status” allocation to Mardie. BCI has a strong commitment to environment and heritage protection and biodiversity conservation at Mardie.”
Source: Company Press Release