Friday 27th January 2006
Nigel Adlam, NT News

A MINE that could last for 50 years is to open in a small Territory town later this year.

The Browns Project is expected to change the face of Batchelor, a 720-strong community 100km south of Darwin.

Sydney-based Compass Resources is fast-tracking an opencast mine 7km north of the township, believed to contain $650 million worth of minerals -- 10,000 tonnes of copper, 1000 tonnes of cobalt and 700 tonnes of nickel.

The company is keen to start mining as soon as possible because the price of cobalt has hit $US14 per pound.

"That's a great price," said Compass technical director Rod Elvish.

Cobalt is used in jet engines, VHS tapes and artificial hips.

The opencast mine will be worked for four years, employing 79 permanent workers and about 150 more during six months of construction.

Compass has decided not to build a construction camp. The workers will find their own accommodation at Batchelor.

One caravan park is already considering expanding to meet demand.

There are six times more minerals under the Browns Project lease, which would demand underground mining and need a new environmental impact study.

And elsewhere on the company's 200sq km lease around the township there are mineral resources more than double the size of that.

Compass is also drilling for uranium. Mr Elvish said there weren't any uranium deposits at Browns but there were known resources on other parts of the lease, particularly near the old Rum Jungle mine.