ANOTHER round of public consultation is being scheduled by Alkane Resources on the $1 billion Dubbo Zirconia Project (DZP), approved by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission late in May.
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Public meetings are likely to be held at Toongi hall and the Dubbo RSL Memorial Club in August and/or September.
Alkane Resources' wholly-owned subsidiary, Australian Zirconia Limited (AZL), reports that meeting dates and venues will be announced soon.
The meetings aim to inform Dubbo and district residents of the DZP's construction schedule, financing strategy and management plans covering environmental and safety issues.
The latest AZL community newsletter informs recipients that the first stage of construction is expected to begin at the end of 2015 and take a year to complete.
It will focus on building support infrastructure, including a water pipeline from the Macquarie River to the DZP site at Toongi.
AZL reports of negotiations with 15 landowners in the establishment of the route for a 132kV power line that must undergo Essential Energy environmental and heritage assessments before construction can begin.
Improvement of the Obley and Toongi roads will take six months with the work set to meet Dubbo City Council requirements.
It will include road widening and straightening, along with the installing of bridges and culverts.
About 100 hectares of earthworks are planned.
At the DZP site, earthmoving equipment will install erosion and sediment control structures, build ponds and roads and start forming the land earmarked for a chemical processing plant.
AZL is currently evaluating tenders and expressions of interest for packages of work and equipment needed for the likes of the earthworks and construction of infrastructure such as crushing and acid plants.
First stage construction is scheduled to begin after the securing of an environmental protection licence from the NSW Environment Protection Authority and a mining lease from the NSW Department of Resources and Energy.
The DZP is based on one of the world's largest in-ground resources of rare metals and rare earths at Toongi.
Alkane Resources envisage it will make a significant contribution to lifting Australia's global market participation, and open up alternative streams of rare earth materials outside of China.
