West Balranald is located in the Murray Basin, a shallow, intra-cratonic Cainozoic basin covering an area of 300,000km2 in south-eastern South Australia, south-western New South Wales and northwestern Victoria. The Murray Basin is flanked by low mountain ranges of Proterozoic and Palaeozoic rocks which are interpreted to be the originating source for the HM. Much of the sedimentary sequence within the basin is the result of repeated marine incursions from the southwest, with the latest transgressive-regressive event resulting in deposition of the Late Miocene to Late Pliocene Loxton Parilla Sands (LPS). These sediments were deposited in shallowmarine, littoral and fluvial conditions and comprise of fine- to coarse-grained, generally well-sorted sand, with minor clay, silt and gravel and host the Murray Basin mineral sand deposits. Overlying the LPS in the northern and eastern Murray Basin is the Shepparton Formation. This unit consists of mixed fluvial channel and flood-plain deposits, including some aeolian sediment. The lithology of the Shepparton Formation varies between gravel and clay. The source material varies between regions, leading to the subdivision of the unit based on geomorphic forms and soils; however, all are consistent with Riverine Plain sedimentation (Brown & Stephenson 1991). The West Balranald deposit is hosted in the LPS and is interpreted to represent shoreface facies in a beach barrier sedimentary environment, formed in response to concentration ........

Owing to West Balranald deposit relative depth (approximately 60 metres below surface), Iluka has over several years assessed the potential to develop via a novel, remotely operated, underground mining (UGM) technology. A novel, internally developed underground mining method utilising directional drilling technology has been developed for the mining of the West Balranald deposit. Studies using conventional mining methods have shown the deposit would be challenging to mine due to the depth to mineralisation, strip ratio and groundwater and trafficability issues and is why an alternative approach has been selected. Underground mining will use a Mining Unit Plant (MUP) and ancillaries, Mobile Mining Plant (MMP) and subsurface equipment, supported by surface ancillary equipment. This equipment has been selected and designed specifically for this project. Mining will commence and ramp up with 2 MUP pairs to deliver around 87 tph each to the wet concentrator plant (WCP). MUP pairs will commence on separate panels with identical layouts and infrastructure. Mined material will be pumped from the Mobile Mining Plant (MMP) area to the processing plant. The MMP has been designed to be modular and semi-mobile. Sand tails will be returned to mining pits and covered with direct returned overburden, subsoil and topsoil prior to that area being mined. Fines tails, including iron sulphate tails, will be reintroduced into the underground mined voids. An area of poor geotechnical condit ........

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