Snapper has an estimated capital cost of $130 million and Ausenco has previously worked on Bemax’s Gingko mine, which came into production in 2005.Gingko was the first mine of the two-mine Pooncarie project, with the second mine being Snapper.The two mines are located 10km apart and will share some infrastructure, although a greater portion of the Snapper ore will be processed at the company’s Broken Hill mineral separation plant 220km away, due to a higher heavy mineral grade in the Snapper deposit.“Our scope is to engineer, cost-effectively procure and construct the plant to produce concentrate for transport and final processing at Broken Hill,” Ausenco chief executive Zimi Meka said.“The Murray Basin has many deposits awaiting development and Ausenco’s involvement in the Snapper project will mean it is well positioned to participate in other projects in the area.”Bemax was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in September, after being acquired by Cristal Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s National Titanium Dioxide Company, in a deal worth around $301 million.
