Iron Sands Project

Overview:

• Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) has been trying to develop a billion-dollar Iron Sands dredging business within a few years off the west coast of the North Island.
• The project involves a 6,319 square km area off the West Coast of the North Island of New Zealand where iron sands will be dredged from the seabed, processed on floating platforms and shipped overseas, while the tailings will be returned to the seabed.
• An initial fast track production of 5 million metric tonnes annually (Mta) of titanomagnetite (TiFe) concentrate is proposed over approximately 18 months of mining, and TTR intends to be in full production in 2.5 to 4.5 years.
• The ultimate target is 50Mta of TiFe concentrate. The proposed volumes, and nature, of extraction are unprecedented in New Zealand.
• The proposed mining operation overlaps an existing petroleum mining licence and the Kupe Gas Field, which poses significant risks to existing operations of the Kupe Field, particularly increasing vessel collision risks with the Wellhead Platform. 
• On 16 February 2017 TTR made a second attempt to obtain consents after a decision-making committee appointed by the EPA ruled in 2014 that the environmental impacts of the proposal were too difficult to gauge on the evidence available.

Adam Majeed - Regional editor