The Tasmanian mine is set to restart later this month after shutting its doors 30 years ago.
As reported in the ABC, the mine’s operator Group 6 Metals plan to use a $10 million government grant to lease diesel generators to power the project, despite the money being initially granted to connect the mine to King island’s grid.
Group 6 Metals’ chief executive Keith McKnight said the initial plan was to connect to the local electricity grid, but it would now lease diesel generators for the project’s first two years in order to cut costs.
“One of the main reasons for connecting to the grid on King Island is because they’ve got a high percentage of renewable energy,” McKnight said.
“This money is going towards supporting the company in its interim solution, but more importantly it’s going to go towards the company implementing a long term, reliable power solution.”
The announcement comes after it was recently revealed that Group 6 Metals and Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) had entered a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the objective to find ways to provide renewable energy to the Dolphin tungsten mine.
The mine previously operated between 1917 and 1992, but then closed due to low tungsten prices with approximately 50 per cent of the known mineral resource yet to be mined. It is due to restart at the end of April.
The mine is located near Grassy, a town on the south-east coast of King Island, an island in the Bass Strait between Victoria and Tasmania.