Hydro helping to power up King Island tungsten mine

The Tasmanian Liberal Government welcomes the recent announcement from Group 6 Metals that it is fully funded to proceed with the redevelopment of the Dolphin Tungsten Project at Grassy on King Island.

The mine, which has been closed since the early 1990s, is host to one of

the highest grade tungsten deposit of significant size in the Western World.

In positive news, Group 6 Metals have awarded a $49 million contract for the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of a processing plant and associated facilities on the island.

These announcements come on the back of the Tasmanian Government’s commitment earlier this year of a $10 million commercial loan to help progress the project.

We are further pleased to announce that, following a recommendation from the Tasmanian Development Board, the Government has also agreed to provide funding of up to $2 million to Hydro Tasmania to assist with the cost of upgrading the existing public power line infrastructure on King Island to support operation of the mine.

The infrastructure upgrades will have indirect benefits to the King Island community through improving the distribution system performance.

Hydro Tasmania will be using a mix of local contractors and bringing in specialist contractors to the island to deliver the upgrade work.

Minister for State Growth, Roger Jaensch, said that: “The Tasmanian Liberal Government supports and promotes investment in our regional areas, and there is a significant economic growth opportunity in this project for King Island and the state as a whole.

``The creation of up to 90 full-time equivalent jobs during construction, and about 65 ongoing full-time equivalent jobs would be particularly welcome on King Island.”

Minister for Resources Guy Barnett said: ``This announcement follows other recent good news in the mining sector including New Century Resources taking on an option agreement to acquire the iconic Mt Lyell mine and booming mineral exports of more than $2.6 billion in the year to August.”

Jobs are a major priority for the Tasmanian Government and we look forward to continuing to work with Group 6 Metals to see this exciting project realised.