Silica Resources Australia (SRA) is a public, unlisted, critical minerals company that is fully independent and 100% Australian owned. SRA was formed specifically to be the owner of the Mourilyan Silica Sands Project (the project).

The project is a high-purity silica flour processing mine and facility.  There are two stages to the project – stage 1 and stage 2.

Stage 1 will mine silica from a brownfield former quarry site and has a mining lease in place since 2003. The sand resource on the stage one property has been used for building and construction sand for over four decades.

In 2019 the founder of Silica Resources Australia (SRA) first looked at the project and in November 2021, formed Silica Resources Australia to be the owner of the Mourilyan Silica Sands project by buying MSR (the previous owner).  Once SRA had the rights to the project, significant additional drilling was undertaken, and this showed a much greater deposit of higher value than had historically been recognised.  Stage one works have included building the processing plant on the freehold land, with the existing Mining Lease on Stephenson Road.  The project was delayed, partly due to the long 2025 wet season, and the processing plant was commissioned in April-May 2025.

Stage 2 will encompass an expansion of the Stage 1 project and depth of the extraction; and will also involve an additional area located adjacent to Stage 1. The stage 2 project will be subject to a number of government approvals, environmental consultations, technical studies, and landholder discussions. This process will ultimately determine the exact location and size of the project. This stage will also involve a port expansion to build common user infrastructure at the Port of Mourilyan.

The project’s stages 1 and stage 2 of the project are located between Mourilyan Harbour and Kurrimine Beach in the Cassowary Coast Regional Council area. The nearest town of significant size is Innisfail (population 10,000 people).

Stage 1 started extracting for the first contract in April 2025.

Stage 2 is anticipated to start operating in 2028, subject to approvals and a final investment decision.

Subject to drawing down finance, SRA anticipate having the on-site silica flour mill constructed in 2026.

Stage 1 is on freehold land with an existing mining lease.

Stage 2 is located on freehold land and state land.

The project is located on freehold land and state land, of which the Mamu people have Native Title determination.

The Mamu Aboriginal Corporation, is the Prescribed Body Corporate (PBC), to manage native title rights and interests on behalf of traditional owners after a native title determination.  PBCs are responsible for acting as the link between native title holders and external parties, such as governments and companies, and handle “future act” notices under the Native Title Act. PBCs must be registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act) and have specific prescribed obligations to protect their native title rights.

Mamu Aboriginal Corporation, as the PBC, is the legal entity which SRA has entered into the Native Title Agreement, as directed by Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act).

In June 2025, SRA and Mamu Aboriginal Corporation signed a Native Title Agreement. This agreement includes royalties on the sale of the beneficiated product, employment, traineeship and procurement opportunities.

The cultural heritage plan is in place and was developed in consultation with the Mamu Aboriginal Corporation, the PBC, as required by legislation.

In June 2025, SRA and Mamu Aboriginal Corporation signed a Native Title Agreement. This agreement includes royalties on the sale of the beneficiated product, employment, traineeship and procurement opportunities.

In addition to the opportunities in the Native Title Agreement, SRA is proud to partner with Jabin, an Indigenous owned and founded engineering consultancy based in Cairns and Brisbane, to offer one Indigenous engineering scholarship every two years.  Silica Resources Australia’s Mourilyan Silica Sands project is based at Kurrimine Beach. Jabin founding director and owner Dennis Jose went to school at Innisfail State College, before completing university at CQU in Rockhampton and a professional career working for large engineering consultancies.  

Every two years an Indigenous Engineering Scholarship will be available to Indigenous students with a connection to the Cassowary Coast region in year 11 or 12.  You can find out more about the scholarship and the criteria here.

The next scholarship application will open for applications in the second half of 2027

Stage 1 has an existing mining lease, which has been in place since 2003, which sets out certain standards for extraction.

Stage 2 approvals will be guided by the state government and will be known in more detail as the data collection and assessment process starts.  There will be a large body of work undertaken such as ecological studies, social studies, and water resource studies.

The project will likely require EPBC referral. This will be confirmed as environmental and technical studies are undertaken.

The project will position Australia as a major exporter of silica flour to the Asia-Pacific Region including Japan,, South Korea and the US.

Silica flour is used in products to manufacture glass, solar panels, the automotive industry and technology manufacturers.

The core products will be used to make solar wafers, ceramics, fibreglass, solar panels, and high-grade glass coverings. Commercial by-products include foundry sand and construction sand, for the South East Asian, Australian and US markets.

Critical minerals are minerals that are vital for modern economies but can be scarce or at risk due to various factors. This can include limited geological availability, political instability in producing countries, or trade issues.

Australia is a major player in critical minerals for a few reasons:

• Large Deposits: Australia has some of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements https://www.industry.gov.au/mining-oil-and-gas/minerals/critical-minerals.
• Global Leader in Production: Australia is already the world’s top producer of lithium and a major producer of other critical minerals https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/minerals/critical-minerals.
• Economic Opportunity: The growing demand for critical minerals presents a significant economic benefit for Australia through mining and processing these materials.
• Economic stability – Australia is a stable political and economic trading partner.

Overall, Australia’s critical minerals resources position it well to be a key supplier in the global clean energy transition and other technological advancements.

Silica, itself, isn’t explicitly listed as a critical mineral in Australia. However, the source material for silicon, silica flour, is considered critical.

• High-grade Silica Sand is Crucial: While silica (quartz and sand) is abundant, high-purity silica sand, used to make silicon, is much rarer and sought after for its specific properties in electronics and solar panels,
• Silicon Makes the Critical Minerals List: Australia recently added silicon to its critical minerals list due to its role in computer chips and the global supply chain issues.

So, although silica isn’t directly listed, silicon is created using high-grade silica.

Stage 1 mine life, under the existing mine lease, is anticipated at nine years.

Stage 2 mine life is anticipated at over 40 years.

Total 51.56 million tonnes 

Reserves 29.22 million tonnes

Stage 1 4.54 million tonnes

Stage 2 47.02 million tonnes

Over the project’s lifetime, the royalties generated to the Australian economy are expected to be over $45 million dollars.

An independent EY economic report has shown, stage 1 and stage 2 of the project is anticipated to support over 180 jobs over a 10-year period.

This projection is comprised of:

• 50 direct Full Time Equivalent (FTEs)
• 130 indirect FTEs

SRA will look to employ 82 FTEs through contract services by the 5th year of operations.

SRA wants to employ and contract as many local Cassowary Coast employees and businesses as possible.  There is not a fixed percentage figure on employee vs contractors.  It will depend on the project stage and scope of works (operations or construction).

We believe Cassowary Coast already has many people who are skilled and working in the mining and resources sector either as drive-in-drive-out or fly-in-fly-out.

Given the opportunity we believe some of these people would choose to work closer to home in the Cassowary Coast where they can be with their family and enjoy the lifestyle of the area.  We have received CVs from local people who have proactively sent these through to our email address listed on the website.  These CVs received from Cassowary Coast residents show local skills include truck drivers, machinery operators and environmental scientists.  If we can employ local people and engage local contractors, there will be less strain on the housing availability in the region, as these people are already living here.

SRA has a Workforce Development Strategy and this strategy focuses on:

1. Meet Future Skills Need
2. Improve attraction and retention
3. Develop cross-sector transferable skills
4. Support entrepreneurship, business capability and the regional innovation ecosystem.

Some of the actions in the Workforce Development Strategy include:

• Annual participation in the Cassowary Coast Regional Council careers day expo.
• Create partnerships between the schools and tertiary education providers to promote the career pathways.
• Work with partners to develop a social needs program that provides employees with assistance in overcoming barriers to work.
• Sponsoring the Tropical Innovation Festival to support entrepreneurship, business capability and the regional innovation ecosystem.
• An annual supplier and contractor briefing will be held to provide information on upcoming works.

Please send your CV to: info@silicaresources.com.au

The project will utilise the Port of Mourilyan for export and will develop its own common user infrastructure.

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The recreational fishers will not be impacted, however, there may be some restrictions to the commercial fishers’ jetty when the mobile conveyor is in place, when the silica ships are being loaded.

The public car/boat parking will not be impacted, however, the cul-de-sac turnaround at the northern end of the Coast Guard building will be slightly impacted by the mobile conveyor along the western extremity.

There will be an open stockpile on Lease R just to the south of the STL workshop, which has a current environmental approval for an open stockpile storage from the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI).

Recreational boat access to the boat ramp will not be impacted; however, during periods of loading minerals, for safety reasons, vehicular and pedestrian access will be restricted to the working areas of the port and the main wharf.

The areas of the port from the vehicle turnoff to the public boat ramp at the STL shed is all land owned by Ports North and is not public land.

Vehicular access will still remain open to the recreational boat ramp and carpark during any mine activity.

Stage 1 will be visually similar to the site now.

Stage 2: As part of the stage 2 approvals process the project is required to consult with the community and will require input from technical studies.  This will inform what the site will look like at the end of the project.

In Stage 1, the pits will remain and the area rehabilitated consistent with the approval to retain less than 7m from ground to the pit floor. A trial wetland is envisaged for the pit on the current freehold Mining Lease. In Stage two, as part of the approvals process, the project is required to consult with the community and will require input from technical studies including our current water unit study.  This will inform what the site will look like at the end of the project.

Consultation has commenced with the Mamu Aboriginal Corporation as part of the Native Title Agreement.  These discussions have centred around the opportunity to create a wetland environment, replanted with local native species similar to what has been done at Cattana Wetlands in Cairns.  Cattana Wetlands in Cairns is a former sugar cane farm and sand mining quarry and has since been rehabilitated to form an enjoyable 80ha nature conservation park.

Additional environmental studies are being undertaken to see if rehabilitation into a wetland is a possibility and how this would be achieved to assist the landform and capture silt and nitrogen (in particular) from mother nature and farming activities near the project area.

In stage 1 there will be increased traffic on the Murdering Point Road, Stephenson Road, Cowley Beach Road and Mourilyan Harbour Road.

The current plans are for trucks to travel to the Stephenson Road site from the Bruce Highway onto Cowley Beach Road and Stephenson Road.  These will be a truck and dog, or a single B trailer initially.  Trucks will leave site south along Stephenson Road, before heading west on Murdering Point Road and onto the Bruce Highway.  Once at the Bruce Highway, the truck movements will depend on the product supply contract we have with the purchaser:

• moving south if trucking product domestically south;
• North on the Bruce Highway and West via the Palmerston if heading west; or
• North on the Bruce Highway and east on the Mourilyan Harbour Road if going to the Port of Mourilyan.

SRA anticipates the first ship to load and leave the Port of Mourilyan between November 2025 to January 2026; then ongoing.

This will involve three to four trucks continuously transporting silica from the site at Kurrimine Beach to the Port of Mourilyan.  SRA anticipates this will be 16 to 24 truck movements in total per day.

SRA will truck silica in daylight hours mainly on Monday to Friday, and if needed to fill an order, also on the weekend.

Initially, while Stephenson Road remains a dirt road, the truck sizes will be truck and dog, or a single B trailer.  They will load at site, travel out west on Murdering Point Road, turn north on the Bruce Highway, drop at the Port of Mourilyan, then return to site via the Bruce Highway and Cowley Beach Road.

On Mourilyan Harbour Road, SRA has issued a company directive to all SRA vehicles, including contractors, to reduce the speed to 60km per hour in the 100km zone and the eastern 80km zone, where cassowaries are known to cross this road.

Trucks will avoid travelling in school pick up and drop off hours to minimise any risks to safety at the Mourilyan State School on Mourilyan Harbour Road.

The project team will work with the community to minimise any impacts. Safety is our priority at all times.

Yes, SRA has committed to paying for the sealing of Stephenson Road (a Cassowary Coast Regional Council owned road) and this is anticipated to be undertaken in 2026 (after the wet season).

Murdering Point Road is a State Road and will remain the responsibility of the State Government to fund and repair through the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. SRA will pay a levy to support this.

SRA are not aware of any changes to intersections on the Bruce Highway (a Commonwealth Government road).  As per all Bruce Highway decisions and priorities, any upgrades would be identified by the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads in discussions with the Commonwealth on funding arrangements.

The permit conditions allow 24 hours 7 days a week for mining and generally 6am to 6pm for trucking.  The conditions require the operations not cause unreasonable noise and suggest measures to be taken to achieve this outcome. 

SRA is acutely aware of silicosis issues and has designed the project to remove the risk where possible.  SRA is committed to the highest global mitigation standards.

The risk posed by silicosis is avoided as SRA will cut all silica on site at 75 microns and runs a wet process to ensure fine silica particles and dust are not included in the mining process.  Any smaller size fraction is passed wet into geotube bags. 

The fraction size of respirable crystalline silica is <10 micron; this is the fraction that can enter the lungs and cause irritation and inflammation, with long-term exposure potentially causing silicosis (SSN 2020, WHSQ 2022[1]). 

The product will be transported either in bags or covered trucks.  This will be based on the customer’s needs. Generally, our 75 – 150 micron product will only be transported in enclosed bags to conserve the product. The size fractions above 150 microns will be sold in a combination of bags and bulk.

In the future, the fine ground silica flour products will all be transported in bags and often in bags in containers.

The Stage two Flour Mill is a self-contained area with dust controls. All staff and management in this space will have the appropriate PPE.

[1] SSN 2020, What is Silicosis? Silicosis Support Network, accessed on 27 March 2025, https://www.silicosissupport.org.au/what-is-silicosis/

WHSQ 2022, Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Government, accessed on 27 March 2025, https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/laws-and-compliance/codes-of-practice/managing-respirable-crystalline-silica-dust-exposure-in-construction-and-manufacturing-of-construction-elements-code-of-practice-2022

[1] SSN 2020, What is Silicosis? Silicosis Support Network, accessed on 27 March 2025, https://www.silicosissupport.org.au/what-is-silicosis/

WHSQ 2022, Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Government, accessed on 27 March 2025, https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/laws-and-compliance/codes-of-practice/managing-respirable-crystalline-silica-dust-exposure-in-construction-and-manufacturing-of-construction-elements-code-of-practice-2022

SRA initiated dust monitoring for the project in 2024.  The results of the dust monitoring are reported to the Queensland Government and are not reported publicly by SRA.  SRA, like all businesses, must adhere to Workplace Health and Safety legislation and the Mining and Quarrying Act. 

Over the project’s lifetime, the royalties generated to the Australian economy are expected to be over $45 million dollars. In addition the project will:

• Employ local people, contractors and suppliers
• Develop common user infrastructure at the port which will benefit other companies and the economic output of the Cassowary Coast region.

In addition we will use a wet process to further mitigate any risk of silicosis.

The project will have routine testing to ensure particle sizes remain within acceptable limits and dust controls will be used throughout the operations

SRA has met with the Mamu board and is committed to continuing to work with the Mamu people and all Indigenous stakeholders, to maximise employment benefits and community development opportunities from the project.

The project team has contacted all landowners where known access is required. You will receive a land access notification request asking for your permission to access your property. Access may be required for technical studies or other assessments. The project team wants to work with landholders to negotiate access. It is the preference for all access to be through negotiated agreement with landowners.

SRA does not intend to have on-site workers’ accommodation. Any workers not living locally, will use accommodation services from existing local Kurrimine Beach businesses.

Dr Graham Lauridsen BVSc has been engaged as an independent scientific cassowary specialist. Dr Graham is a veterinarian by training and is well known to the Cassowary Coast community for his many decades of work with the cassowary. This includes being instrumental in setting up the Garners Beach and Barrine cassowary rehabilitation centres, conducting cassowary behavioural studies (including movement patterns) and providing veterinary care to injured cassowaries.  Dr Graham won the 2016 Citizen of the Year award for the Cassowary Coast Regional Council area.

Dr Graham will review key documents for the project including traffic management plans, sustainability reports and will be involved in the mine rehabilitation planning.

The stage 1 area is a grassed cow paddock and quarry site.  Cassowaries have not been known to frequent the stage 1 area but could potentially, although unlikely, travel through the area if seeking a fruiting tree or moving from one habitat area to another.

Stage 2 is subject to significant environmental assessments and the mine planning will consider avoiding areas of cassowary habitat.

In its planning the project team, with Dr Graham’s guidance, is looking at how to minimise any impact on the cassowary, including:

• A no dogs policy on site. Dogs and vehicles are the biggest killers of cassowaries.
• Significantly reducing vehicle movements to the Port of Mourilyan and enforcing speed limits through vehicle monitoring.
• Not building large fences around the project site which will restrict the movement of the cassowary. Large fences can cause the cassowary stress either by changing its preferred transit over the landscape or by injuring themselves by trying to penetrate the fencing.     The existing wire cattle fencing will be retained, which cassowaries are known to pass through with limited concern.
• Mine rehabilitation planning will focus on how the mined land can be progressively rehabilitated to a state that is nature positive from its current state; with a focus on vegetation corridors for cassowaries.
• Educating workers and contractors on the importance of not feeding cassowaries (which will help keep them away from roads and humans), keeping to the speed limit and what to do if they have any cassowary interactions or see an injured cassowary.

On Mourilyan Harbour Road, SRA has issued a company directive to all SRA vehicles, including contractors, to reduce the speed to 60km per hour in the 100km zone and the eastern 80km zone, where cassowaries are known to cross this road.

Silica is in the form of sand and the mining process uses an excavator and dump truck.

The silica is placed on a conveyor where it is washed and sorted into particle size.  It is then bagged or loaded into trucks and transported by road (if within Australia) or via the Port of Mourilyan (if being exported).

No.  Mining on site will only use fresh clean water which is recycled through our processes on site.

There is no tailings dam. The materials removed from the silica will be collected in geotubes and is a product that will be sold.

No.  As the project does not use any hazardous chemicals and the process is extracting sand with an excavator.

The water used on site is in a closed-loop system and recycled through the process.

The amount of water required for the stage 2 project has not been resolved, the stage 1 operations will provide an insight to these values.  The water currently used on site allows bores to draw groundwater at 2ML per second and generally SRA employs a closed-loop system stored in tanks and recycled through the process. SRA has the ability to build and draw dam water from a contained surface dam (like a cattle dam) if needed. SRA may top up the recycled water stored in tanks from ground water bores or the dam in future.  The amount of ground water needed will vary each year based on the wet season. There is no tailings dam. Geotubes are used to capture the finer grain sizes below 75 microns. There is no use of hazardous chemicals in the process circuit.   The sand is dug up from the ground, sorted into grain size and washed with recycled water.

Contact us:

Phone:             1800 1 SILICA (174 542)

Email:               Info@silicaresources.com.au

Website:          www.silicaresources.com.au