Austpac’s program at the Newcastle Plant was designed to lead to a full bankable feasibility study (BFS) for the first commercial ERMS SR synrutile plant.

The main purpose of the Demonstration Plant is to provide data for detailed engineering design and costing for a 60,000 tpa commercial ERMS SR synrutile plant. Austpac intends to commercialise the ERMS SR technology by building a 60,000 tpa synrutile plant in Eastern Australia, subject to the completion of a BFS. This is an acceptable 20 times scale up from the Newcastle Demonstration Plant. The first stage of the BFS is an external engineering study to establish capital and operating costs. Data from last year’s operations at the Demonstration Plant is being collated in-house prior to commencing this study.

Discussions are progressing with potential suppliers of raw materials such as ilmenite and coal, for the proposed 60,000 tpa plant in Eastern Australia, and contracts for future supply will be negotiated as appropriate with various groups. Preliminary enquiries are also being made into transport and infrastructure suitability (road, rail, power, port and shipping), and arrangements will be finalised when the site for the proposed plant in Eastern Australia has been selected.

It is also expected that the exhaustive testing of the bulk ERMS SR synrutile being undertaken by international groups will lead to future sales arrangements for all synrutile produced by the commercial plant. It is anticipated that the Austpac DRI product will be sold to Australian steel makers.

Schematic layout of a 60,000 tpa ERMS SR Plant

Preliminary cash flow models for a 60,000 tpa plant indicate very robust project economics. With an anticipated capital cost of $120 million, the plant has the potential to make $45 million per year before tax, interest and depreciation. The project payback on these parameters is less than 3 years with a project IRR of over 30%.