Big Vein South has moved into a live environmental-authority public notice stage.
Strategic Minerals Corporation has placed its proposed Big Vein South Gold Project into a fresh Queensland statutory milestone, with the site-specific Environmental Authority application and Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan now open for public submissions from 24 September to 23 October 2026.
The proposed greenfield mine sits about 100–120 kilometres north of Richmond in North-West Queensland. Current government project information lists approximately $400 million of investment, around 980 construction jobs and 380 operational jobs, while the filed project description provides for up to 1.95 million tonnes per annum of run-of-mine ore and up to about 100,000 ounces of gold doré per year.
The commercial signal is substantial but still approval-led. A public-notice EA application is not a construction approval, final investment decision or procurement award. The next meaningful gates are the Queensland environmental decision, the Commonwealth EPBC assessment and the proponent’s own final delivery decisions.
Big Vein South has entered a live Queensland EA public-notice window
The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation has opened public consultation on Strategic Minerals Corporation’s application for a site-specific Environmental Authority for Big Vein South. The submission period runs from 24 September until 4:30pm on 23 October 2026. The application package includes the Environmental Authority application, an Environmental Assessment Report, a Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan, technical assessments and the proponent’s responses to the department’s information request.
The milestone is material because the existing environmental authority held by Strategic Minerals covers exploration and low-risk mining activity, not the full proposed construction and operation of the greenfield mine. QGold states that the new site-specific EA and Commonwealth approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act are required before the proposed full mining development can proceed.
Big Vein South was declared a prescribed project by the Queensland Government in April 2026. The Office of the Coordinator-General currently lists the project as progressing approvals, with proponent-supplied project information indicating a construction start target of Q2 2027 and construction completion in Q4 2028. Those dates remain targets rather than construction commitments.
The filed project design outlines a complete remote mine-to-doré system
Three open cuts, on-site processing and remote supporting infrastructure
The Commonwealth referral describes open-cut mining from the main Big Vein South pit and two smaller satellite pits, BV1 and BV2. Mining would use conventional excavators and trucks, supported by drilling and blasting, waste-rock dumps, ore haulage and progressive rehabilitation.
Up to approximately 1.95 million tonnes per year of run-of-mine gold ore is proposed. Ore would move to the southern project area for stockpiling and processing. The project description includes both heap-leach processing in the earlier project years and a Carbon-in-Leach plant, with spent heap-leach ore later reprocessed through the CIL circuit.
Infrastructure creates multiple future work fronts — if approvals are secured
The filed design includes a CIL plant with crushing, SAG milling, carbon-in-leach, elution and a gold room; a heap-leach facility with mobile crushing, three leach pads and three ponds; a tailings storage cell; waste-rock facilities; workshops and servicing areas; warehouse and laydown; administration; water supply and mine-water systems; accommodation camps; a private airstrip; haul and access roads; and a diesel-and-solar power system.
The power concept includes diesel generation with an average load of about 8.75 MW supplemented by a 2.5 MW solar farm. The tailings storage cell is described as a lined facility with capacity for roughly 3.15 million cubic metres of settled tailings. A filter press is scheduled in the project description for later commissioning so dewatered tailings can be co-disposed with waste rock.
The EA public notice is one gate inside a broader approval pathway
Queensland and Commonwealth decisions are both still required
The current Queensland process concerns the site-specific Environmental Authority and associated rehabilitation planning. Public submissions can now address the application material before the department proceeds through its statutory assessment and decision-making process.
Separately, the Commonwealth EPBC portal lists the Big Vein South open-cut gold mine project as under assessment. The referral documentation describes potential clearing, groundwater drawdown and impacts that require environmental assessment. That federal process remains a distinct approval gate and should not be collapsed into the Queensland EA process.
The project already sits across four existing mining leases — ML2729, ML2739, ML90238 and ML100236 — so the central development question is not simply whether tenure exists. The focus is whether the proposed mining and infrastructure development clears the environmental and project-delivery decisions needed to proceed.
- Site-specific Queensland EA application is in public-notice phase.
- Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan forms part of the application package.
- Four existing mining leases cover the project site.
- Commonwealth EPBC project status is under assessment.
- Public submissions close 23 October 2026.
- Queensland environmental decision.
- Commonwealth EPBC decision.
- Final project execution and investment decisions.
- Construction mobilisation and major contracting.
- Commissioning and production, targeted from 2028 in current project information.
The proposed delivery footprint is larger than a simple open-pit mining package
Big Vein South is commercially notable because the published concept combines mining, processing and remote-site infrastructure in one greenfield development. If it proceeds, the delivery program would have to coordinate mine establishment, process facilities, power, water, tailings, roads, accommodation and aviation access in a relatively remote North-West Queensland setting.
However, BBI has not identified a current primary-source announcement of principal EPC, mining-services or major construction-package awards for the full development. Capability relevance should be treated as a forward-looking watchpoint rather than a live tender list.
Commercial lens: a $400 million project with a broad contractor interface
What contractors and suppliers should monitor
The clearest potential work fronts arise directly from the infrastructure described in the public project documents: mine civils and access, crushing and processing, SMP work around the CIL and heap-leach systems, diesel generation and solar integration, water systems, tailings infrastructure, camp and airstrip support, remote logistics, environmental monitoring and rehabilitation.
The government’s project page lists around 980 construction jobs and 380 operational jobs. Those workforce figures illustrate scale, but they do not identify package timing, procurement method or appointed contractors. The stronger commercial signal will come when approvals progress and the proponent starts releasing delivery, contracting or supplier-participation information.
For BBI readers, the practical strategy is to watch the approval clock first, then look for procurement evidence rather than assuming every design component is already contestable work.
Follow related major-project, mining and approvals coverage as Big Vein South moves through assessment.
What to watch next
The immediate date is 23 October 2026, when the Queensland public-submission period closes. After that, industry should watch for the EA assessment outcome, movement in the Commonwealth EPBC process, any updated construction timetable and evidence of package strategy or contractor engagement.
Sources and verification
- Queensland DETSI — Big Vein South Gold EA Application (public notice and consultation; 24 September–23 October 2026).
- QGold / QCoal Group — Big Vein South Gold Project (project status, processing concept and lifecycle context).
- Australian Government EPBC Public Portal — Big Vein South open cut gold mine project (project description and assessment status).
- Queensland Office of the Coordinator-General — Big Vein South Gold Project (investment, jobs, prescribed-project status and proponent-supplied schedule).