Heron Resources has entered into the project development earthworks contract for its wholly-owned Woodlawn zinc-copper project located near Tarago, 250 km southwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ertech has been awarded the earthworks scope for the development of the project. The earthworks will be the first significant site development activity at the commencement of construction with the scope of work covering:
- Construction of the main road access from the sealed Collector Road
- Process plant site levelling and foundation preparation
- Haulage road construction from the plant site to the underground box cut
- Excavation of the box cut for the underground access
- Construction of Tailings Storage Facility 4.
This is the last of the pre-financing material contracts to be entered into and the contract remains subject to a Board decision to proceed following the successful completion of the Woodlawn project financing process.
Woodlawn comprises two significant poly-metallic resource-based assets; the Woodlawn Underground Project and the Woodlawn Tailings Retreatment Project. Woodlawn is a high-grade, volcanogenic massive-sulphide (VMS) deposit, located approximately 50 km northeast of Canberra, and 250 km southwest of Sydney.
The project benefits from a mining lease (SML 20) that has recently been renewed for a further 15 years, and major project approvals (statutory approval) that allows for mining operations at the Woodlawn site until 31 December 2034. The mineral rights and production are 100%-owned by Heron.
Heron also holds a portfolio of tenements adjacent to the Woodlawn site covering the prospective felsic volcanics that host the Woodlawn VMS deposit. The Woodlawn site (SML 20) is surrounded by a larger exploration license (EL 7257) which is held 100% by Heron. This exploration license, of 179km², includes the previous Currawang mine located 9 km to the north of Woodlawn. Currawang provided satellite feed to the previous Woodlawn operations.
Historically, the Woodlawn mine operated from 1978 to 1998 and processed 13.8 Mt of ore from the Woodlawn open pit, underground and satellite deposits grading 9.1% Zn, 1.6% Cu; 3.6% Pb, 0.5g/t Au and 74g/t Ag. The mine was closed in March 1998 due to prevailing low metal prices and external corporate issues. Work has focused on evaluating the potential to re-process tailings from previous mining operations (termed the Woodlawn Retreatment Project), and to re-develop the underground mine (the Woodlawn Underground Project). Regional exploration has also been undertaken in the vicinity of Woodlawn with the objective of discovering new, high grade satellite deposits (Woodlawn Exploration Project).
Founded in 1981 Ertech provides contracting services to the oil and gas, mining, government and utilities infrastructure, waste and land development sectors. It delivers a range of engineering construction solutions incorporating civil and concrete construction, geotechnical, environmental, marine, electrical, and project management services to clients across Australia. Recent work has included involvement in some of Australia’s largest projects, including the Wheatstone, Roy Hill and Gorgon projects.
