Bemax Resources Ltd have awarded South Australian steel company Ottoway Engineering a $10 million contract to start construction of the new Snapper mineral sands project this December.

Wentworth Mayor Marg Thomson said she expected the new mine would have a positive economic run-on effect, with local jobs for Wentworth workers as well as others across the region.

She said the existing Gingko Mine, also near Wentworth, had proved a great benefit to the local economy and welcomed a second wet-mining plant.

“When the first mine started up (in 2005) it provided a lot of jobs, especially for people coming off the farms,” she said.

“It will be excellent, anything that provides employment especially when some people are struggling is good,” she said.

Under development since 2003, the Snapper Mine site will occupy 24 sq/km, about 70km north of Wentworth.

It will be the second commercial mining operation in the Murray Basin.

With the Gingko Mine just 10km away, both mineral projects will be mined together from May next year when the Snapper Mine is scheduled for completion.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Saturday’s Sunraysia Daily 17/10/2009.