Emmaville Tin Mine very close to go-time

Emmaville’s tin mining heritage is close to coming out of the history books and back to life, with the Taronga Tin Project sailing through the state’s approval process with barely a ripple of opposition.

Of the 15 public submissions lodged during the project’s environmental exhibition last year, 11 supported the mine, and Glen Innes Severn Council raised no objections at all. With the sentiment so heavily in its favour, the company behind the project says it is now just waiting on the NSW Government to finish ticking the boxes.

First Tin chief operating officer Tony Truelove said the company was optimistic given the strength of that support.

“We are hoping to have development consent by October, but that will depend on timeframes of the various government departments that are currently reviewing our application,” Mr Truelove said.

From there, it is a matter of the final paperwork, management plans, and a Biodiversity Offset Scheme, before machinery can move onto the site.

“We will still require some additional approvals for the various management plans that will be conditions of the consent, and approval of our Biodiversity Offset Scheme, which we anticipate will take us until March/April next year to have finalised,” he said.

“Hence, we hope to be able to start work on the ground around March/April 2027.”

“Our current schedule, assuming we can get approvals in the expected timeframes noted above, is to be in production late 2028 or early 2029,” Mr Truelove said.

There hasn’t been a working mine in the area since 1982 when there was a collapse in the price of tin, so the project promises a jobs windfall for a village that has spent decades watching young people leave for work elsewhere.

“During construction, up to 200 short term jobs will be generated, and during full scale production we will have around 150 full-time employees,” Mr Truelove said.

“We will be giving preference to locals as this will benefit the local community, ease accommodation requirements, and enable us to be a significant part of the local community.”

The jobs are not just specialist mining jobs either, with roles available for truck drivers, loader and digger operators, fitters, boilermakers, mechanics, electricians, process operators, administration staff and accountants.

“We intend to hire as many local people as we can,” Mr Truelove said.

“While some jobs will require skills that are not available locally, we are confident that many personnel will be able to be sourced locally.”

“Hiring for construction should start once all approvals are in place, so early in 2027, but the majority of hires will be made closer to us getting into full scale production, most likely around mid to late 2028. These will be mainly full-time positions,” he said.

While jobs are not being advertised just yet, those who are keen to work at Taronga can upload their resume now via their website.

Workers coming from out of town will be housed in a new camp near Glen Innes Airport, which Mr True Love said would be among the first pieces of the project built.

“It will be one of the first construction projects we undertake and is expected to be built around the middle of 2027,” he said.

With First Tin doing a great job of engaging the community, optimism in the project going ahead has been high for a while. It even got an unusual vote of confidence from Member for New England Barnaby Joyce, who disclosed in January he had bought shares in the company on the London Stock Exchange, according to the register of member’s interests held by federal parliament.

With the community and, apparently, the local MP all on side, Mr Truelove said the only real hurdles left were bureaucratic and logistical.

“The main hold-ups for us now are the various permitting aspects. The only other potential hold-ups are sourcing some long lead-time items we require, such as crushing equipment, the solar farm and gas generators,” he said.

“We are confident we can work our way through these and be producing tin around the end of 2028.