Resources company Tivan Limited says it has reached an agreement with the Northern Territory Government to build a mineral-processing facility near Darwin.
Tivan appears to be the first company to publicly state its intention to be a tenant of the controversial ‘Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct’ — which last year received a $1.5 billion commitment from the federal government.
In a statement, Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler said the NT government was working with the company to “progress their project”, but had not signed off on the final plan.
“To enable Tivan to continue initial project planning and development of a proposal for government consideration, the Northern Territory government has agreed to hold a piece of land for the company within the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct,” she said.
Today’s announcement by Tivan, formerly known as TNG Limited, represents a return to the company’s original plans for processing.
In 2019 the company submitted a proposal to the Environment Protection Authority to build a facility at Middle Arm, for processing minerals from its vanadium, titanium and iron ore project at Mount Peake, 235 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
But the plans received backlash from a number of groups, including Paspaley and Humpty Doo Barramundi, which were concerned about wastewater from the plant being discharged into Darwin Harbour.
In September 2021, the company changed its plan, announcing it would instead build the processing plant alongside the proposed mine in Central Australia.
Return to Middle Arm
In its statement to the ASX, Tivan said a review of the company’s direction had found the exit from Darwin was “principally due to deficiencies in stakeholder and regulatory engagement, rather than tangible commercial considerations”.
Tivan said the Darwin location provided better access to infrastructure, export markets, water, electricity and a workforce than what would be available in Central Australia.
It also noted that in the past 18 months, the Middle Arm precinct had been developed “significantly” by the NT government in terms of “advanced planning and enhanced regulatory pathways, particularly environmental”.
The company said the processing facility will create around 1,500 jobs during construction and around 1,000 during operation.
Executive chairman Grant Wilson acknowledged the company had an obligation to “earn and maintain a social licence” to operate at Middle Arm.
“I fully expect Middle Arm will emerge as the pre-eminent sustainable development precinct in Australia in the decade ahead,” Mr Wilson said.
“Tivan has a key role to play in diversifying its industrial footprint and delivering a forward-facing project of national significance.”
Ms Lawler says the company will be required to comply with the conditions established by an environmental assessment of the precinct, which is currently underway.
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