Australian Mines Ltd. applied for a mining lease on 3,900 hectares in New South Wales, Australia, which will allow the company to expand its Flemington scandium-cobalt project in the future.

The mining lease application includes the existing mineral resource as well as a significant portion of the prospective dunite geology unit, which hosts cobalt, nickel and scandium mineralization, the company said April 3.

The company expects to report an updated mineral resource estimate for Flemington in the second half.

Australian Mines will finalize the purchase of a water license for the Flemington project within the next four to six weeks.

A mid-March scoping study on the project estimated a net present value, discounted at 8%, of up to A$255 million with a 37.3% internal rate of return.