VRX Silica (ASX: VRX) today provided its quarterly activities report for the period ended 30 June 2022. At Arrowsmith North, the company lodged the Environmental Review Document (ERD) with the WA EPA (EPA) and purchased two key long lead plant items. At Arrowsmith Central, the company lodged the Environmental Scoping Document (ESD). Following submission of the ERD for Arrowsmith North, VRX received a request from the EPA for further information. The response was submitted on 12 July. The company awaits EPA confirmation that the document has been released for public review. The indicative timetable for the development of Arrowsmith North remains on track for final EPA approval in December 2022, with the six-month construction phase scheduled to commence in January 2023. In May, VRX commenced capital expenditure for the Arrowsmith North processing plant with the purchase of a 3-metre diameter x 8-metre long RCR-designed feed trommel and a 3.6 x 8.5m Schenck “banana” vibrating screen. The acquisition of these two key pieces of plant equipment for Arrowsmith North has both pre-empted any lead time issues associated with ongoing global supply chain disruption and delivered more than $1 million in capital savings to-date. On 20 June, VRX lodged the ESD for the Arrowsmith Central project. Consistent with the EPA’s approach at Arrowsmith North and the company’s expectations for Arrowsmith Central, the EPA will assess the proposal at a Public Environmental Review (PER) level of assessment. The PER period is four weeks. VRX said that while it is not in a position at this stage to set a definitive timeline for the approval process, it is expected that work-to-date with the EPA on seeking approval for nearby and broadly similar Arrowsmith North will greatly assist in this application.
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