Stavely receives licences to advance Victorian copper-gold projects

They were granted for a period of up to 10 years and are renewable for a further 10 years.

The licences are considered transitional, between an exploration licence and a mining licence, which will provide Stavely Minerals with tenure over the land before progressing to a mining licence.

Stavely Minerals must comply with an agreed work program that develops the resource towards mining to progress to this next stage.

Stavely Minerals chairman Chris Cairns said there was still plenty of studies to complete before getting to this stage, but the retention licences gave the company security of the tenure.

“If these technical programs and studies ultimately demonstrate a positive financial outcome resulting in a decision to develop a mining project, the investment that follows is likely to have a material impact on the local regional economy and for well-paid skilled employment in the region,” Cairns said.

“While there is plenty of drilling still to do, the grant of these key retention licences gives us the security of tenure we need to progress our key western Victorian projects through the various stages of evaluation required before we get to a decision to mine.

“By helping to support generative exploration projects the Victorian Government is helping to sow the seeds for discovery of new mineral deposits in western Victoria, that ultimately could be a significant source of copper which the world needs for a low-carbon sustainable future.”

Intensive drilling is under way at the copper-gold-silver discovery Cayley Lode at the Stavely project.

With the retention licences granted, Stavely Minerals can work towards scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies such as metallurgy, geotechnical, mine design, process facility design and financial modelling, which may lead to project financing and a decision to develop a mining operation.