That will give Image the opportunity to push the completion of processing Boonanarring ore into May-June 2023.

Getting access to the southern extension of Block D at Boonanarring was largely delayed due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions that prevented the landowner from travelling to Australia to finalise access and compensation negotiations.

Image had planned to relocate mining and processing equipment from Boonanarring to its Atlas deposit.

The time needed to move the equipment to Atlas would have resulted in a heavy mineral concentrate production gap of at least three months.

Thanks to the Boonanarring extension some of the impact of that will be reduced.

Image Resources managing director and CEO Patrick Mutz said it was comforting to have reached a positive outcome for what was generally a relatively simple aspect of the business but had been subject to one of the many COVID-related challenges the business had faced over the past two years.

"Having the opportunity to extend mining at Boonanarring is a significant step in minimising the adverse effects of a production gap involved with the relocation of the Boonanarring mining and processing equipment to our 100%-owned Atlas deposit as originally contemplated in the company's 2017 bankable feasibility study," he said.

Timing and capital costs estimates are being updated for inflationary effects and changed circumstances such as delays in finalising the permitting for Atlas.

Some of those permitting delays are due to regulation changes in response to the 2020 Juukan Gorge disaster in which Rio Tinto destroyed two 46,000 year old rock shelters considered sacred by the Traditional Owners of the land its Brockman 4 iron ore mine is on.

Updated timing and cost estimates are expected in the fourth quarter of 2022.