One is an application seeking to explore for group-two, non-metallic minerals (specifically bauxite), lodged by ABX1 – a subsidiary of Australian Bauxite – in an area of about 294sqkm beginning about 7km south of Inverell and heading east past Stannifer.

ABX1 chief executive officer Ian Levy said in a media statement to the Australian Stock Exchange at the end of June that his company was working on the discovery of a high-quality deposit of bauxite near Guyra.

He said the company had drilled 63 holes on a dozen properties in the hope of finding the mineral, which is used to manufacture aluminium.

In a review of environmental factors prepared for ABX1 for the licence application for EL7361, it was revealed the iron content was high, and this indicated the Guyra bauxite was similar to bauxites from other projects in eastern NSW and south-east Queensland.

Mr Levy said the company may be able to sell large tonnages to bauxite-alumina refineries needing “sweetener” bauxite that processed at low temperature and had low-

reactive silica contents.

One possible spin-off from the discovery could be the reopening of the Guyra-Armidale rail line.

Operations on the line have been suspended for some time, but Australian Bauxite said it would need to use it if it gained permission to extract the mineral.

A stumbling block to this plan would be Tamworth’s more-than-100-year-old viaduct.

It was found during research into a proposal to ship containers of timber from Armidale some years ago that the viaduct did not have the strength for large trainloads of freight.

ABX1 said the proposed bauxite extraction was a simple, shallow quarrying process, affecting only the top few metres of gravel beneath the soil layer, and easily rehabilitated.

“We feel we are ‘collateral damage’ in the current debate over mining,” Mr Levy said.

“To compare us with the deep coal open-pit mining industry or coal-seam gas industry is like comparing a Holden ute with 400-tonne mine truck.”

The other application lodged was from a consultant geologist, PW English and Associates, to explore for group-one metallic minerals (specifically gold) over an area of 18sqkm about 45km north-east of Guyra.

Mr English also has applications pending for licences for 36sqkm of country about 43km east of Barraba, and 18sqkm about 40km south-east of Glen Innes.