Australian mining company North West Phosphate expects to spend A$350 million ($220.4 million) to start mining phosphates and producing concentrate by early 2024 at the company’s Paradise South deposit in North West Queensland, according to ABC North West Queensland.
Paradise South is located adjacent to the Lady Loretta zinc mine owned by Glencore, approximately 130 kilometers northwest of Mount Isa. According to the company website, it will be an open cut mining operation with mine scheduling completed to excavate up to 2 million mt/y of phosphate ore, with a mine life of up to 50 years.
The Paradise South mine will include a processing plant onsite to produce the phosphate concentrate product ready for domestic and international markets.
Paradise South was the maiden mineral reserve for the former Legend International Holdings Inc., which eventually went into bankruptcy (GM March 14, 2011; July 22, 2016).