Trans-Tasman Resources Lodges Fast Track Application
Thursday 17 April 2025, 1:18AM
By Trans-Tasman Resources
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Trans-Tasman Resources has lodged its application for fast-track consent for its project to harvest iron sands off the coast of Taranaki, and generate jobs and growth.
“The Taranaki VTM project represents a transformative opportunity for New Zealand’s economy and environmental leadership,” Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) Executive Chairman Alan Eggers says.
“The project will generate significant economic growth, foster regional employment, and position New Zealand as a significant western world producer and exporter of critical minerals essential for the transition to clean energy technologies and other critical sectors.”
The Taranaki VTM project will extract 50 million tonnes of iron sands per year and mechanically recover, by magnetic separation, 5 million tonnes annually of heavy mineral sands containing iron ore and critical minerals vanadium and titanium, for export. The de-ored sands will be returned immediately to the seafloor in a controlled process.
Mr Eggers says the project operation has comprehensive environmental safeguards, with the environmental effects being managed by more than 100 proposed consent conditions and detailed management plans that will protect the marine environment.
An economic impact assessment prepared by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) found that the project will generate more than 1,350 jobs, including more than 300 direct jobs in Taranaki and Whanganui, generate total export earnings of more than $850 million annually making it one of New Zealand’s top 12 exporters.
“It’s a massive project that will provide a huge economic boost in Taranaki and Whanganui, as well as flow-on benefits for all of New Zealand.”
He says the Taranaki VTM project supports the government’s stated aim to double the value of mineral exports to $3 billion by 2035 and it also supports A Minerals Strategy for New Zealand to 2040 and A Critical Minerals List for New Zealand, both adopted in January this year.
He says the company will now work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure its application is complete prior to it being considered by an expert panel facilitated by the EPA.
If the project receives approval, he says the next steps would be to establish a head office in New Plymouth, prepare a bankable feasibility study and secure the NZ $1 billion capital required to develop and commission the project.