Al Hadeetha Resources, a 70:30 joint venture between Australia-based Alara Resources and Oman’s Al Hadeetha Investment Services, plans to start construction of its copper concentrate plant in Oman by the end of the year, said a report.

The project is subject to the company getting a mining licence from the Public Authority for Mining, a senior official from Alara Resources was quoted as saying in the Times of Oman report.

The planned copper concentrate project will be located at Washihi, around 160 km south-east of Muscat, and the plant is expected to start operations in 2018, it said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a second annual conference on Mining Investment Middle East and Central Asia, Justin Richard, chief executive officer and managing director of Alara Resources, said that the copper concentrate plant will process one million tonnes of ore to produce 30,000 tonnes of copper concentrates per annum.

He further added that a 75-km-long pipeline from Nizwa to the mine site will transport 2,400 cu m of water.

The total project cost is estimated at $270 million, which includes a capital expenditure of $59 million.