30th Apr 2019 17:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bluejay Mining PLC on Tuesday said it has submitted a environmental impact assessment for its Dundas ilmenite project to Greenland's Ministry of Nature & Environment.
The assessment was prepared by environmental service provider Orbicon AS and allows the authorities to understand the impact of exploitation of the ilmenite-bearing sand within the licence area.
Under normal conditions, an assessment only requires two-years of sample collection and baseline survey. However, due to the limited existing understanding of the biodiversity in this environment, and in order to consider the natural variation year on year, both the company and regulators agreed best practice would be to undertake a three-year review
Bluejay anticipates yearly production of 440,000 tonnes of ilmenite concentrate from the project.
"Since the processing of the resource does not require the addition of chemicals, the risk of polluting the sensitive Arctic environment is very small," explained Orbicon Senior Consultant Flemming Jensen.
"A potential concern has been that underwater shipping noise would disturb migrating whales near the project port in spring and autumn. However, this issue has been mitigated by reducing the speed of vessels close to the port in the shoulder periods," added Jensen.
Separately, Bluejay updated its timetable for the expected resource calculations for Iterlak East and Iterlak West and the pre-feasibility study for the Dundas ilmenite project.
The exploration and development company said it has been informed by the mining consultant, SRK Exploration, that the Iterlak East and Iterlak West mineral resource calculations are close to completion, the results of which are now expected to be announced in May.
Bluejay said it was previously advised by SRK that the pre-feasibility study would be ready for publication by the end of April. The pre-feasibility study is currently at a final draft stage, the company noted, and will be published as soon as practicable.
Looking ahead, the company said the "extended and in-depth" pre-feasibility study will result in both significant time and cost efficiencies, as this mitigates some of the test work required by Bluejay when it advances into the definitive feasibility stage.
Bluejay shares closed 0.2% higher on Tuesday at 11.02 pence each.
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