Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT) announced today that its board of directors unanimously approved advancing the Tanami expansion 2 project in northern Australia into the execution phase.

The project is expected to exceed the miner’s required internal rate of return with profitable production and mine life extending beyond 2040, Newmont Goldcorp said.

Newmont began commercial production at the Tanami expansion project in 2017.

After investing $120 million extending the mine, which Newmont has fully owned and operated Tanami since 2002, the company said it expected an increase of annual production at the operation to between 425,000-475,000 ounces of gold.

Newmont announced in March that the $245-million power station project for Tanami had been completed.

The additions are expected to provide Tanami with a safe and reliable energy source while lowering power costs and carbon emission by 20%.

The Tanami expansion project is anchored on the expansive Auron deposit, which was discovered in 2008, and is located stratigraphically beneath the original Callie orebody and the Federation and Liberator discoveries.

Tanami’s orebodies are hosted by reactive stratigraphic units where high-grade gold mineralization is found at intersections with structural corridors, Newmont Goldcorp said.

The expansion includes construction of a 1,460 meter shaft, additional capacity in the processing plant, and supporting infrastructure to enable profitable recovery of ore at depth to 2,140 meters below surface.

“Building on the success of the first expansion completed in 2017, Tanami Expansion 2 will provide a platform to further explore the area’s prolific mineral endowment and potentially extend the operation’s mine life beyond 2040,” Tom Palmer, Newmont Goldcorp’s CEO said.