The Ourlook for today is all about next Thursday, when a meeting with government officers should provide guidance as to what's next.

So for today, let me put the construction idea of Mount Rommel at Glenfine into context with what others are doing in the gold industry in Victoria.

Readers of on-line news may have seen last August the comments posted by Ross Louthean about Northgate Minerals. For those who missed it click here to view.

Those reported public views record an intent to invest in infrastructure. If your purpose is to process mined material to recover another $400 million in gold from Stawell, then "infrastructure" includes expansion of a waste depository - the TSF, or tailings storage facility.

Mostly, we have no way of seeing the expansion of investment underground at Stawell, or any underground mine.

In contrast, their TSF investment over the last six months or more is totally on view from the air..........

Readers might think the compliance procedures for such a large facility as this would be more onerous than for Glenfine.

Victorian regulations make no distinction for scale, and we are attempting to show that scale-down brings environmental benefits - better to avoid problems than pay out bond money to fix things later, we believe.

Up to now, only two (2) new TSF's in Victoria have cleared the DPI 2004 TSF Guidelines - the regulatory procedure - the first one at Ballarat (see photo below) which I am informed cost about $14 million, and the second at Stawell, as above.

Mount Rommel intends to be the third approved TSF, one which shows how the field situation found at Glenfine offers a choice about size. There is no need for the TSF to hold all the material to be worked, if in working useful material is stripped away and salvaged for use elsewhere on site. In the different way we could work at Glenfine, much can be salvaged, to reduce the TSF size.

Here is the contrast - Glenfine from the air, much the same size in view taken about 3000 feet above ground. This photo was taken after the grass fires of 21 January 2010. The burn area is about the same size as the clearing at Stawell, for its TSF there. The contrast in size could not be more apparent.

The prepared TSF at Stawell covers about 100 hectares. At Glenfine, we seek approval for a TSF of less than 1 hectare.

Prior to the Glenfine application. Victorian regulators had not given consideration to the possibility of work at places with no mine history in modern times. This fact affects us at Clunes also. If a first start, the need is to have a track record with the Department of Health.

This is the ONLY State agency which authorises the use of industrial chemicals in this State. Neither DPI nor Worksafe are involved in this approval of any site for use of cyanide, and without the Department of Health approval the transport of cyanide is not permissible.

Mount Rommel is resolving this regulatory division by building a mini-plant at Thomastown, did obtain for that plant the mandatory poisons licence (cyanide) on 4 February 2010, so as to give confidence that such a licence will be obtainable for Glenfine.

The photos below give some idea of how things are advancing. Click here for more photos of Glenfine....................more news soon.

Fred Hunt
Chairman
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22 December 2009
23 November 2009
14 November 2009
6 November 2009