A detailed mining lease proposal was submitted to the Department of Primary Industry and Resources SA (PIRSA) last Thursday.

Approval for an all-weather haulage road, to be built from the mine site - in the Yellabinna and Nullarbor Regional Reserves, about halfway between Yalata and Oldea - out to the Eyre Highway, will be sought from Planning SA as part of the proposal.

People who have a view on Iluka's proposal to mine zircon at Jacinth-Ambrosia, have until January 4 to lodge written submissions with PIRSA.

Issues raised in those submissions will be addressed by Iluka in a formal response document. PIRSA and other government agencies will then undertake a detailed environmental impact and risk assessment of the project before the State Government makes a final decision on the mining tenements.

Iluka's general manager investor relations and corporate affairs, Dr Robert Porter, said that during the proposed construction phase - from Iluka board approval expected mid-next year to the proposed production start-up in 2010 - between 220 and 250 people would be employed on the project.

Once operating at capacity, the mine would employ 110 people and have a proposed initial life span of 10 years on the Jacinth-Ambrosia deposits, Dr Porter said.

He confirmed comments made by company representative Hans Umlauff to the Regional Development SA conference in Port Lincoln - reported in the West Coast Sentinel last week - that the company would look to employ indigenous workers and farmers.

"We are planning to source as much of our employment requirement as possible from the local area," Dr Porter said.

However, a "fly in-fly out" link between Adelaide and the mine site would also be established for specialist personnel who could not be sourced locally, he said.

The mineral sands would be mined in a "shallow open cut" operation, the zircon extracted and put through a "wet concentration plant" - using highly saline underground water from a source about 20 kilometres further west - on site, Dr Porter said.