Stockyard's mining lease area sits within a single private property, with the proposed disturbance footprint consisting of cleared farmland.

That avoids any need to knock down native vegetation used by the endangered Carnaby's cockatoo.

Industrial Minerals plans to follow a simple mining and processing route to produce direct shipping ore silica sand.

The small scale of the mining lease and low environmental impact of the project is believed to have helped to expedite the approval process.

With an offtake agreement already in hand with Shandong Hongbote Solar Technology, mining is expected to begin once a final investment decision is made.

Industrial Minerals managing director Jeff Sweet said it was pleasing to see the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety and Department of Water and Environmental Regulation recognise the low impact Stockyard would have on the environment.

"The low impact nature of this project will have negligible impact on vegetation and fauna, while improving the productivity of the land post-mining," he said.

"This is good for the environment and will increase the productivity of the farm, and we see that increasing the amount of productive farmland will be beneficial to the wider economy."

Sweet said the company was awaiting beneficiation results of a 20t sample sent to offtake partner Shandong, which had been delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak in China and Chinese Lunar New Year shutdowns.