The marine setting for the WTN leases I believe pose no issue in regard to the engineering of possible mining operations on a large scale along the sea-shore of Groote.
If you take the off-shore mining operations of Portman/Cliffs at Cockatoo Is then you will be able to understand where I am coming from.
Cockatoo has a +2km sea wall built along its coast to access iron-ore (a third of the value of Mn) and is mined to 50m below sea level. The ore is very hard and requires drill/blast. The area has greater than 12m tidal influences. Groote on the other hand would be mined to no more than 20-30m below sea level, would be a softer ore due to the pisolitic nature and soft sand overburden with maximum tidal influences of around 1.1m.
So practically building a sea-wall on the Western side of Groote to access millions of tn's the worlds best Mn ore would be a walk in the park compared to the example above.
WTN could also look at the possiblitly of using self-cutting dredgers which may even be a cheaper option than mining on-land. The ore would be washed and screened as it is being mined.
And Fridge yes you are correct they do have applications over a very large area on near-by islands - time will tell if there is any Mn on them, but a quick search of the NT Geological map shows the same rocks types to Groote so there is the chance.
As I keep saying going North of $$.
Regards Gibb River
WTN Price at posting:
35.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
