The public consultation period for Winchelsea Mining's environmental impact statement, a part of the territory's environmental impact assessment process, closes on April 9.
Winchelsea Island is about 50km off the coast of Arnhem Land that can only be accessed by boat. The land is unpopulated and there is no infrastructure there.
Traditional Owners the Anindilyakwa have been exposed to open cut mining since the 1960s by GEMCO on Groote Eylandt, with royalties from that mine supporting the Anindilyakwa's economy for more than 40 years.
With mining scheduled to cease at Groote Eylandt in coming years, the Anindilyakwa had to find other funding sources. That led to the establishment of Winchelsea Mining, a joint venture between the Anindilyakwa Advancement Aboriginal Corporation and AUS China International Mining.
The JV will operate and manage the mine for 11 years.
The project area is surrounded by an environmentally restricted area established following consultation between Winchelsea Mining and the TOs.
The area includes a 300m buffer between the coastline and any mining activities.
Manganese will be extracted from nine separate areas stretching over 284.4 hectares, using hydraulic excavators and articulated dump trucks.
Drill and blasting will not be required due to the thin tabular nature of the deposit.
The run-of-mine ore production rate will be 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
Ore will then be crushed, screened and washed onsite before being hauled to stockpiles and conveyed to a wharf and barge loading facility for transhipment to ocean-going vessels.
