Ironbark Zinc Limited (ASX:IBG) has welcomed the receipt of its Section 19-43 Permit from the Government of Greenland setting out the exploitation plan and closure requirements for the Citronen Project.
The board is confident that this is the last permit required before a final investment decision (FID) is made to proceed at Citronen in 2021.
Shares have been as much as 23 per cent higher to 2.7 cents intra-day, more than double the 1.3 cents at market close on October 30.
“Closer to final investment decision”
IBG managing director Michael Jardine: “I would like to thank our partners at the Government of Greenland for prioritising this approval after a near decade-long permitting runway, and I am thrilled on behalf of the board to have this in hand.”
Jardine said the permit removed the final permitting-based impediment to an investment decision in 2021, with only the post-FID Section 86 approval yet to be granted.
He said: “[The permit] will greatly assist with the project financing challenge as our partners at EXIM Bank, along with most commercial debt providers, typically do not take permitting risk on projects.
“And finally, it puts further distance between Ironbark and its in-country peers with respect to establishing Greenland’s first large scale mining operation.
“My team has worked very hard at this over a long period of time and I commend them for their dedication and commitment to seeing Citronen developed.
“The Greenlandic authorities expect high standards of the mining industry and this award is yet another big step forward for Ironbark in 2020.”
Section 86 strategy
Ironbark will only apply for its Section 86 Permit subsequent to a decision being made to proceed with the development of Citronen as it requires detailed ‘as built’ construction plans, along with documentation on final environmental management plans, financial security, explosives and reporting requirements (all of which are preliminarily agreed in the Section 19-43 Permit).
It is anticipated that, if a decision to proceed is made in the second half of 2021 then the company will look to mobilise to site in the Greenlandic summer of 2022.
This would imply a timing window for the Section 86 submission and approval of late 2021-first half of 2022.
