january 2010

January/February 2010 $2.75 inc GST where sold

Supporting mining and industry in Queensland and the NTSupporting mining and industry in Queensland and the NT

ISSN 1833-3125

Isaac - regionIsaac - regionof opportunityof opportunity

THIS EDITION

• NQ breaks into the iron ore game

• Crunch time for Gladstone industry

• CuDeco raring to go at Rocklands

• Bumper year on the cards for coal

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1The Mining Advocate | January 2010 NEWS

All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced in part or in full by any means without written permission of the managing editor. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

CONTACTS

p. (07) 4755 0336 f. (07) 4755 0338

Email: ...........................................................info@industryadvocate.com.au

Address: .........................................U3/11 Carlton St, Kirwan, Q, 4817

Postal: ...................................................... PO Box 945, Townsville, Q, 4810

3 Th e need for speed

Local supply businesses hoping to secure work from major LNG projects in the pipeline for Gladstone will

have to be “agile and nimble and ready to respond” according to an industry leader.

Gladstone Economic and Industry Development Board chief executive Garry Scanlan believes 2010 is

shaping up as a watershed year for the city, when it will learn which projects are moving forward and gain

greater certainty on timeframes.

5 Cloncurry project builds steamCuDeco is gearing up to bring its Rocklands copper mine online by mid-2011. Th e project’s engineering

consultant for logistics and acquisition, John Green, has already been out shopping for mining fl eet -

gathering an array of dump trucks, excavators and dozers.

9 King coal on the rise A senior resource analyst is tipping a doubling in spot prices for coking coal this year, saying Chinese buyers

cannot get their hands on enough of the product at the moment.

North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation chief executive offi cer Brad Fish has also noted an increasingly

bullish approach in the market. Meanwhile Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche

is speaking of “cautious optimism” for the year ahead.

29 Hands-on approach Th e new Queensland president of the CFMEU’s mining and energy division, Steve Smyth, has vowed to

spend more time out at the coalface to keep in touch with the workforce. Th e former Collinsville boy, now

living in Mackay, has taken over the role from retiring president Greg Betts after focusing on safety issues

for the union since 2000 as a mine inspector.

33 Support by the truckload Th e family-run Hornery Trading Group is raising cancer awareness and signifi cant funds thanks to a bright

pink Kenworth truck.Th e Bowen Basin business donates $20 to the Royal Brisbane Hospital Foundation

for every hour that mining fi rms and other operations hire the water truck, which has undergone custom

detailing including the addition of Lymphoma Australia feather symbols.

January 2010

FEATURES4 Safety

6 Mount Isa Regional Capacity

10 Mackay Regional Capacity

12 Townsville Regional Capacity

14 Coal and Gas UpdateNews in brief across the coal and gas industries.

16 Industry UpdateA comprehensive wrap of exploration and operations in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

18 Between Shifts

23 Emissions

24 Isaac Region

28 Building Mining Communities

35 Port of Townsville

Managing editor: .........................Robert Dark m. 0417 623 156

Journalist: .........................Belinda Humphries m. 0439 726 074

Sales: ................................................p. (07) 4755 0336 m. 0417 623 156

Advertising booking deadlineMarch edition: February 24

Above: The Mt Moss mine west of Townsville is on the threshold of

a new export trade in iron ore. Story - Page 2 Photo: Stewart McLean

Cover shot: Long-serving local mayor Cedric Marshall can vouch for the

lifestyle benefi ts of Isaac region’s coal communities. Feature starts

Page 24. Photo: Erica Smith

www.miningadvocate.com.au

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2 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateNEWS

Queensland is breaking into the iron ore business with a bang as Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) gears up to construct a magnetite extraction plant and the Mt Moss mine draws closer to export.

Xstrata Copper plans to produce about 1.2 million tonnes of magnetite per annum for export to Asian steel makers from the EHM site near Cloncurry from 2011. Construction of a magnetite processing plant is due to start in the fi rst half of this year under a $589 million mine life extension project that will also see the copper operation transformed into an underground mine.

But Mt Moss mine manager Mike Barr believes the Curtain Bros-owned site, 105km west-north-west of Townsville, will beat EHM as the fi rst Queensland operation to export iron ore.

Th e Mt Moss Mining operation – based on Queensland’s largest

known magnetite deposit – is producing magnetite for coal washing as well as oxide lump ore used in steel manufacturing.

“We’re in the last stages of talks with the Port of Townsville to be able to lay down that product at the port and load the ships. Th at’s going through fi nal environmental approvals,” Mr Barr said.

“We have 75,000 tonnes of export oxide lump product stockpiled on site currently and we have potential buyers.”

Th e site also had just under one million tonnes of ore stockpiled, enough to feed its cobbing plant for 12 months, he said.

Mr Barr believed exports would begin in the next six months and said the operation had current capacity to produce 400-450,000 tonnes of export oxide lump product annually.

Mt Moss Mining has also been producing magnetite for coal washing since December 2008

Northern mines are poised to begin exporting

magnetite for steel manufacturing within the

next two years, writes Belinda Humphries.

Iron ore ventures forge ahead

and trucked about 3500 tonnes to central Queensland coalfi elds customers in 2009.

Mr Barr said the operation commissioned an upgraded magnetite plant in December, taking its capacity from two tonnes of coal-wash magnetite a day to 100 tonnes. It would be capable of producing 60-80,000 tonnes of magnetite powder in 2010, he said.

Th e EHM ore body is an iron ore-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit, with the site presently recovering copper and gold through

traditional grinding and fl otation methods. Magnetite is liberated during this process and the new extraction plant will allow it to be recovered using a combination of cyclones and magnetic separators.

EHM will also be able to reprocess tailings to extract magnetite.

Asciano has won a 10-year contract to transport magnetite from the EHM operation to Townsville by rail.

EHM’s neighbouring tenement holder Exco Resources is also considering extracting magnetite

Mt Moss Mine manager Mike Barr in front of the North Queensland site’s new

processing circuit. Photo: Stewart McLean

After almost three years of feasibility studies, Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) has received the green light to develop a major underground operation that will extend the life of the Cloncurry copper mine to at least 2024.

Owner Xstrata Copper recently announced corporate approvals for a $589 million investment to transform the open-pit mining operations to underground and install a magnetite extraction circuit within the concentrator infrastructure at EHM.

EHM general manager Mike Westerman said the team was looking forward to this exciting new phase of the mine’s life.

“Th e decision to transition to underground mining and

magnetite processing is a major milestone for Ernest Henry Mining,” he said.

“Th e long-term future of the site is now secure and this is great news for our workforce and the Cloncurry community.”

Mr Westerman said construction on both projects would begin within six months, moving forward to production in 2011. Th e underground mine should hit full-scale operation from early 2013, with an expected capacity of 6 million tonnes of ore per annum.

A range of new contractors and professionals will be working on site during the construction phase including diamond drillers, raise drillers, shaft sinkers, high-voltage electricians, headframe

A far north Queensland man has been fi ned for the second time in two years for deceiving jobseekers hopeful of starting a mining career.

Roger Temple Bell, of Mount Molloy near Cairns, was ordered to pay $25,000 after pleading guilty to 12 off ences in the Cairns Magistrate Court for misleading conduct in relation to employment.

Fair Trading Minister Peter Lawlor said Bell’s conviction under the Fair Trading Act related to bogus job off ers made through his Mine Jobs Australia website.

“Th is person has faced court previously for a similar scam and it’s hoped this new bigger fi ne will stop him in his tracks once and for all,” he said.

“Th e scam is cruel because it not only exploits people’s hopes of a break in the mining industry but it also costs them hard-earned cash.”

Th e court heard that Bell’s seven victims forked

out money for airfares, accommodation, “Mine Jobs Passports” and training literature, with some even quitting their existing jobs to pursue the mine positions he touted.

Mr Lawlor said the scam unravelled when applicants were asked to fl y to the Mackay and Townsville airports in January 2009 to be taken by bus to a Collinsville mine.

“Th e buses that were meant to be waiting were not there and it was soon obvious they’d been tricked,” he said.

Mr Lawlor said the victims were awarded a total of $3308 in compensation and Bell was also ordered to pay court costs.

As previously reported in Th e Mining Advocate, Bell was fi ned $3000 in June 2008 for conducting a similar scam.

He has appealed the severity of the latest penalty, with the matter set down for mention in the Cairns District Court on January 22.

as a by-product of copper-gold processing at its proposed Cloncurry Copper Project, which is hoped to move into production in early 2012.

Exco general manager - corporate development Geoff Laing said there was a “reasonably high probability” that the project would include magnetite.

“Th e recovery of it is reasonably simple – the biggest challenge is getting it to market,” he said.

Barrick Gold also previously considered producing magnetite as a by-product of its Osborne copper-gold operation.

East West Line Parks founder and managing director Shane Condon described the EHM announcement as one of the most signifi cant developments in Queensland’s mining history.

His company is behind Project Iron Boomerang – a proposal to establish fi rst-stage iron and steel smelting parks in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and at Abbot Point, near Bowen in North Queensland, to be linked by a new 3300km east-west continental heavy-gauge rail line.

With full payloads heading each way, Mr Condon said such a line would create signifi cant operational effi ciencies for north-west Queensland mines producing magnetite or rock phosphate. He believed there was potential for a 50-million-tonnes-a-year magnetite industry in north-west Queensland by 2020 after completion of the line.

EHM to push on undergroundinstallers, concreters and various mechanical and civil engineers.

Underground development work began in early 2008 and the EHM decline has progressed more than 2800m, now reaching 660m vertically below the surface or 175m below the fl oor of the current pit.

Th e decline and underground levels will be further developed in 2010 along with additional vent rises, ore passes and escape-ways. Th e initial shaft hole will be prepared for the stripping and lining process to take place in 2011.

Other major works include the installation of pit dewatering sumps and airconditioning units.

Xstrata Copper North Queensland chief operating offi cer Steve de Kruijff said the life of mine extension project, which is dependent on fi nal Queensland Government environmental approvals, would secure 400 long-term jobs at the Ernest Henry site.

It will enable EHM to achieve annual production levels of approximately 50,000 tonnes of copper and 70,000 ounces of gold in concentrates from 2012 when processing from open-pit mining operations ceases.

Th e feasibilty work leading up to Xstrata’s investment decision resulted in a revised ore reserve estimate of 72 million tonnes - a 600 per cent increase on previously published underground reserves.

Man fi ned $25,000 for mine recruitment scam

Richard Clark charges the face in the underground decline at EHM.

Photo: Through the Looking Glass Studio


Supply businesses have been urged to keep abreast of progress on a raft of major Gladstone projects approaching crucial fi nancial decisions in 2010.

Gladstone Economic and Industry Development Board chief executive Garry Scanlan said the region was entering a watershed year for industry.

“Several LNG projects are looking at a fi nal investment decision in 2010 and the steel plant,” he said.

“Th is is when we will fi nd out who’s moving forward and what their timeframes are. Once they have a fi nal investment decision everything springs from that.”

He warned businesses hoping to secure work to keep on top of such developments “because when things happen they will happen very quickly”.

Mr Scanlan, formerly the Darwin Port Corporation general manager of port development, said this had been his experience with the ConocoPhillips Darwin LNG plant.

“Local organisations need to be agile and nimble and ready to

respond and react,” he said.He said he would advise any

company interested in securing such work to register and be pro-active with the Industry Capability Network as well as monitoring proponents’ websites.

Australia Pacifi c LNG recently announced that it had signed two key upstream design, engineering and construction contracts for its project, progressing towards a fi nal investment decision at the end of 2010.

Initial environmental impact statements have been completed for the Santos-Petronas GLNG project and QCG’s Queensland Curtis LNG project, while Shell CSG signed an agreement in December with the Gladstone Ports Corporation to acquire land on Curtis Island for the Shell Australia LNG project.

Mr Scanlan said those four major Curtis Island proposals were all targeting a 2014 start date to meet a projected shortfall in LNG demand in the Asia-Pacifi c region.

Meanwhile site works have already begun for a smaller plant

Watershed year for industryFirms seeking work from proposed Gladstone

LNG investment should position themselves

to react quickly, a local development chief says.

at Fisherman’s Landing, with project proponent Liquefi ed Natural Gas Limited planning to make a fi nal investment decision by March.

Mr Scanlan said also Boulder was expected to submit an environmental impact statement early this year for its proposed $2.2 billion Gladstone steel plant, with construction set to begin as early as 2011.

And the State Government in December gave the green light for the development of the new $4 billion Wiggins Island Coal Terminal, saying construction could begin as soon as mid-2010.

Gladstone Engineering Alliance (GEA) chief executive offi cer Karen Porter said there had been a signifi cant change since the global fi nancial crisis in how major industry interacted with suppliers, trending toward short-term competitive supply as opposed to long-term supply based relationships.

In response to these changes and the upcoming opportunities presented by the proposed LNG and steel projects in Gladstone, the GEA had developed a tender readiness program with other key organisations including LNG proponents, she said.

“Th e program is made up of strategic information and development sessions that will provide realistic information on opportunities, build awareness and capability, assist business to identify knowledge and capability gaps, and develop and implement ways of building capability,” she said.

“Th e result of the program will be that local suppliers will be better positioned to meet the demands of the upcoming projects.”

Ms Porter said local suppliers were understandably wary of making major capital investment to gear up for new projects given past experiences with such development being delayed or falling through.

“Businesses are maintaining a cautious watching brief while taking every opportunity to build capability in anticipation of favourable fi nancial investment decisions mid-year,” she said.

Meanwhile Elders Real Estate sales consultant Graeme Watts said he had noted a lot of interest in residential property investment in Gladstone since October last year.

He could see that increasing along with further commitments from major project proponents.

Garry ScanlanGladstone Economic and Industry

Development Board chief executive

Karen PorterGladstone Engineering Alliance

chief executive offi cer

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Nordev Contractors took their cues from the large mining companies they often service when faced with the challenge of introducing a safety and health management system for Maitland Rd quarry outside Cairns.

Th e fi ve-person operation now adheres to protocols including a pre-start checklist for equipment and fi t-for-work standards for employees.

A consultant engineering fi rm makes monthly mechanical and brake checks on vehicles and an independent electrical inspector completes regular electrical safety checks on all equipment.

Employees also face regular competency testing on mobile fl eet and fi xed plant to ensure they have full and fresh training on all equipment, according to Nordev Contractors managing director and owner Greg Rains.

“Now there is a keen awareness of the working environment for operators and evaluation of unsafe operating procedures,” Mr Rains said.

“We’ve incorporated a lot of documentation - more effi cient documentation - also using an external consultant.”

Th e improvements the operation has made throughout the past year were recognised when Maitland Rd quarry was recently named among the winners of the inaugural Small Mines Safety and Health Awards.

Other award recipients included Bedrock Quarry (Proserpine), Walkerston Quarry (Mackay), Hill of Stone and Maidenwell Mine (both in south-east Queensland).

Th e Queensland Mines Safety Inspectorate has been working with small operations in advance of a planned change in legislation from July 1 this year.

Th e Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act as it stands requires mines of more than 10 employees to develop and implement a structured safety and health management system (SHMS).

Queensland Commissioner for

Sites across Queensland are gearing up for a law

change sparked by the over-representation of

smaller operations in mining fatality fi gures.

Mine Safety and Health, Stewart

Bell, said the impending law

change meant smaller operations

would also be required to have

an SHMS in place.

“To make it less onerous

for small operators, we have

developed a system to put an

SHMS template into their

operation and give them a hand

to get it going,” he said.

“We are starting to see results.”

Th e change aff ects about 220

mines and quarries throughout

Queensland.

Mr Bell said the move

was sparked by the over-

representation of smaller

operations in terms of workplace

fatalities. Such sites employ

about 6 per cent of Queensland’s

metalliferous mining workforce,

but have produced 48 per cent of

the fatalities in that sector in the

past decade.

Mr Rains said the inspectorate

had been proactive in providing

guidelines and helping the

Maitland Rd operation

develop processes in line with

the campaign to lift safety

management standards in small

mines and quarries.

However, the company

was also able to draw on its

experience as contractors for

operations such as the Barrick

Osborne mine and Xstrata’s

Handlebar Hill site when it

came to implementing safety

protocols.

“Th is award is basically

recognition of our SSE (senior

site executive Jason Goldsworthy)

for the quarry in adopting a new

safety management plan, which

we developed using the bigger

mining houses’ protocols and

we’ve been strongly incorporating

that in the operation at Maitland

Rd,” Mr Rains said.

“Nordev has been going just

on 20 years now and we pride

ourselves on our safety and

health record.

“We’re willing to meet the new

standards imposed by the mines

department.”

Cairns quarry lifts the bar

Nordev Contractors managing director Greg Rains congratulates senior site

executive Jason Goldsworthy at the Cairns quarry. Photo: Romy Siegmann


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CuDeco has purchased its heavy equipment fl eet and is working on detailed mine design and a reserve statement in a drive to bring the Rocklands copper project into production by mid-2011.

CuDeco engineering consultant for logistics and acquisition John Green said the company aimed to start construction later this year to meet that production goal at the Cloncurry site.

“Before June there will be a series of calls for major tenders for construction and mining and a whole raft of diff erent projects,” he said.

A much-anticipated formal JORC-compliant resource statement for the project is expected to be released in coming months.

Mr Green, who has been working in the Cloncurry area since 1993, simply describes the deposit as “bigger than anything found here in the past 20 years”.

Well known in north-western mining communities for his role as founder of the annual Battle of the Mines charity rugby league tournament, Mr Green joined the CuDeco team about six months ago.

He was previously Leighton Contractors’ Queensland project development manager and has also held senior positions with Roche Mining and Roche Process Engineering Services.

“Opportunities like this don’t come along often, where you can be involved in a large project with an unlimited life on your own town’s doorstep,” Mr Green said.

“To be part of this team is exciting and, honestly, fantastic. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Th e items checked off his shopping list for Rocklands to date have included eight 80-tonne dump trucks, six 50-tonne dump trucks, two water carts, seven large excavators (ranging from 100-tonne to 190-tonne models) and three dozers.

With money in the bank, 200km of

drilling completed and about 99 per cent of its initial mining fl eet purchased, there was no doubt CuDeco was raring to go on Rocklands, Mr Green said.

Construction for the multi-pit operation should generate about 300 jobs. Mr Green said a further 200 permanent jobs may be created in the initial mine operations, on top of the 120 or so people that CuDeco already employs in the Cloncurry area.

“Th at’s for the fi rst seven years - after that, I would envisage it would ramp up to be a very large operation,” Mr Green said.

While the construction work is expected to include a fl y in-fl y out component, Mr Green said the long-term workforce for the Rocklands project would be based in Cloncurry.

“CuDeco is putting a lot of money into infrastructure in Cloncurry,” he said.

“Th e company will be helping Cloncurry expand to cope with the infl ux of employees.”

CuDeco has drilled extensively on its tenements to prove up what it describes as a world-class copper, cobalt and gold resource, including the high-grade Las Minerale zone discovered in 2006.

Th ere were 12 drill rigs on site in December, however the company has had up to 16 operating at Rocklands during the past year.

“We’re having trouble working out where to put the (concentration) plant and workshop because we keep hitting more ore bodies,” Mr Green said.

“Th ere are targets there that we haven’t even put drills in yet and the anomalies could possibly be bigger than the initial resource that we’ve been drilling for the past four years.”

While the company had been criticised over the time taken to release its third resource update for the project, Mr Green said its access to drilling rigs had been very limited until last year.

Preparations are under way for an expected 2010 start in

construction at a major Cloncurry copper project.

Rocklandsgets rolling

Minemakers plans to launch production at its Wonarah phosphate project by mid-year

after completing a trial mining and bulk sampling program in December.Th e company said more than 2000 tonnes of high-grade material recently crushed in

Darwin was due to be shipped during January to the company’s fi rst potential customers

in New Zealand and India.Th is was understood to be the Northern Territory’s fi rst ever export of rock phosphate

and was the fi rst from a new Australian phosphate mine for many years, Minemakers

managing director Andrew Drummond said.

“It’s export from trial mining rather than the main mine – but it’s a great start,” he said.Minemakers was now putting mining and haulage contracts for the planned $140

million phosphate operation out to tender, Mr Drummond said. It hoped to have all

necessary permits in place by April, ready to start mining mid-year.“We aim to be able to produce about one million tonnes in the fi rst year, subject to the

market,” Mr Drummond said.Meanwhile, Global Port Solutions has successfully negotiated an indigenous land use

agreement for its planned bulk handling facility on Phillip Creek pastoral lease, 17km

north-west of Tennant Creek, which would serve the Minemakers operation and other

mineral projects in the area.

Th e company expects to have Stage 1 of the $50 million transport hub ready for

operation later this year if the price of commodities, particularly phosphate, proves

favourable.

First phosphate mined at

Wonarah heads overseas

6 January 2010 | The Mining Advocate

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Mount Isa Regional Capacity

Th e Mount Isa-Townsville highway link is still shouldering an extra freight burden as a result of rail failures during the fl oods of early 2009, according to consultants studying the crucial mine transport corridor.

Supply chain economics experts AMSTEC Design along with Sd+D (Strategic design and Development) expect to deliver their fi nal report from the $120,000 freight corridor study by mid-February.

Regional development group MITEZ (Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone) commissioned the report amid concerns over the leakage of traditional rail freight to the road network and the impact of that extra traffi c.

AMSTEC director Adrian Sammons said inquiries with key interest groups found the popular opinion was that road freight traffi c had increased on the Flinders and Barkly highways between Townsville and Mount Isa.

“Th is is supported due to the

immediacy of the fl ooding and wash-out of the rail line and the fact that rail had to undertake a substantive rebuilding process,” Mr Sammons said.

“Th ere was a period of time of no rail and the mining companies and those processing concentrates still had to produce to keep their operations running, so inputs and outputs were switched to the only mode available - and that was road.”

While there had been a slow return of that freight to rail over the past year, Mr Sammons said some of the overfl ow traffi c remained.

“Th at is now combining with an improvement in the economic cycle that means there are more spot export sales of product, so there’s a doubling up eff ect of the output moving on to road as well,” he said.

Incitec Pivot Limited confi rmed that it was among the companies whose product had drifted to the highway, telling Th e Mining Advocate it had transported fertiliser by road from July to December 2009.

Concerns about the impact of increased traffi c

on the Flinders-Barkly highway are refl ected in

the fi ndings of a recent transport study.

Road cops oversized overfl ow

Mr Sammons said the consultants had observed a volume of freight on the Mount Isa-Townsville road corridor that they would consider better suited to rail.

Th e roadway, which was single lane either way, did not resemble a major industrial highway despite having been designated as an AusLink corridor and identifi ed as a road freight network of signifi cance by the Federal Government, he said.

MITEZ asked the consultants to look into freight volumes, commodity types, their origin

and destination and the reason for using road transport on the Flinders-Barkly Highway and intersecting arterial roads.

Th ey have conducted more than 50 face-to-face consultations with mining sector, cattle industry and council representatives as well as stakeholders from transport organisations, terminals and other facilities. Mr Sammons said they had also gathered data from the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, past studies and the Port of Townsville.

The Mount Isa-Townsville highway – “not necessarily a state-of-the-art

transport corridor”.

A working group of the Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone (MITEZ) is laying the groundwork for a submission to the Federal Government to support a raft of renewable energy projects proposed for the region.

MITEZ executive offi cer Glen Graham said the group was keen to highlight the necessity of building an AC transmission line between Townsville and Mount Isa to “plug these projects into if they are to happen”.

“It was agreed that more work needed to be done to present the benefi ts of these renewable energy projects in the MITEZ region and that we would need

to conduct a study to determine

how much that was likely to

assist the Federal Government

in reaching its 20 per cent

renewable energy target by

2020,” Mr Graham said.

He said the study would also

identify the AC line’s potential

to increase mining development,

providing increased royalties and

other taxation revenue for the

State and Federal governments.

“Th e study is expected to

provide valuable information

that would infl uence the decision

on the best option for the future

energy supply for the North

West Minerals Province,” he

said.

A hearing to determine an application for extended

trading hours for Mount Isa is scheduled to resume

in Brisbane in late January, when Mount Isa

Chamber of Commerce president Brett Peterson is

due to appear.

Th is follows evidence presented when the

Queensland Industrial Relations Commission

tribunal sat in Mount Isa in December.

National Retail Association executive director

Gary Black said that group, which was behind

the application to allow major retailers to open in

Mount Isa on Sundays, expected a decision in the

fi rst quarter of this year.

Meanwhile Sunday trading is due to start in

Rockhampton on January 31 after the commission

recently approved a National Retail Association

application for extended hours in that city.

SunWater is expected to turn on the taps in March

for Cloncurry’s new water supply, after fi nishing the

last section of a 38km pipeline in late 2009.

Cloncurry Shire Mayor Andrew Daniels said the

$42.5m project ensured Cloncurry would never

have to worry about drought again..

“Th e water security the pipeline provides gives

the region the confi dence and certainty it needs to

attract and support future industrial and population

growth,” he said.

With the capacity to deliver up to 900 megalitres

per year, the pipeline will deliver water to Cloncurry

from Lake Julius, via connection to SunWater’s

110km North West Queensland Water Pipeline

and Julius Dam.

He said the group would be making a recommendation to MITEZ to conduct a second phase of study incorporating rail capacity issues.

MITEZ executive offi cer Glen Graham said the group wanted to ensure the region had practical, economical and sustainable means of moving freight.

“Th e Flinders Highway is a highway, but not necessarily a state-of-the-art transport corridor,” he said.

“Th ere are sections of road that are already deteriorating and there are sections of road that will require urgent upgrade.

“More traffi c and weight on it is likely to impact on that, which in turn can aff ect the ability of the road network to act as a transport corridor.”

Queensland Transport Minister Rachel Nolan recently committed $102 million to improve effi ciency on the Townsville-Mount Isa rail line and increase capacity to handle future demand.

State Member for Mount Isa Betty Kiernan said the upgrade program was a result of the Mount Isa System Rail Infrastructure Master Plan released in 2009.

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Coal outlook strong for 2010

Spot prices for coking coal could easily double in 2010 and were likely to match or surpass the highs of 2008, according to industry anaylst Gavin Wendt.

And he believed there was also a possibility of contract prices returning to those record levels this year.

Th e founding director of the new resource report business Mine Life - formerly a senior resource analyst with Fat Prophets - described the outlook for coal as absolutely outstanding on the demand side, although he noted that constraints continued on the supply side in terms of transport infrastructure on Australia’s eastern seaboard.

“Th ere is no sign of coal demand dropping off ,” Mr Wendt said.

“Th e Chinese can’t get their hands on enough product at the moment, as with iron ore.”

Mr Wendt said he did not believe there would be enough

metallurgical coal supply at contract price and noted that spot prices were playing an increasingly important part in the coal market, as was the case with iron ore.

“Current spot prices are about $US115 a tonne, but you can’t secure any product at that price - you have to pay $US130 or $US140 a tonne to secure product,” he said.

In 2008 the metallurgical coal contract price reached around $US300 per tonne, while the thermal coal contract price hit $US125 per tonne.

Mr Wendt described the $US85-a-tonne price that Australian-based Xstrata Coal has reportedly settled with major buyer Tokyo Electric Power for thermal coal in 2010 as excellent, but said he expected to see spot prices soar above that benchmark to around $US100-plus.

North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBPC) chief

Insiders are noting fi rm signs of confi dence

and growing overseas demand as the market

rebounds from the global fi nancial crisis.

executive offi cer Brad Fish agreed there was a strengthening in the market going into 2010, although he said it was not yet as strong as 18 months ago.

“We were seeing a much more bullish approach in the last couple of months of 2009,” Mr Fish said

“Th ere seems to be a lot more confi dence out there in the market at the present time.”

He said the best indicator in the port sector of coal industry confi dence was the increased level of interest in capacity from mining companies.

“Th ey are the companies making large investments in new mines and expanding mines,” Mr Fish said.

“Our tell-tale is their willingness to contract port capacity. Th at’s showing and that’s a long-term trend.

“We are looking at contracts of 10 to 15 years.”

NQBPC operates the coal export ports of Abbot Point near Bowen and Hay Point south of Mackay, encompassing both the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal and the BMA-operated Hay Point Coal Terminal.

Mr Fish expected 2009/10 to prove a record year for coal exports across the two ports and believed tonnages would continue to improve in 2010/11.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said the extent to which the state’s traditional coal buyers such as Japan rebounded from the global recession would have a major bearing on the outlook for Queensland coal in 2010.

He said China’s surge into the spot market for coking coal in 2009 was a welcome development and forecasts of demand from India increasing by up to 200 million tonnes per annum were good reason for cautious optimism about the year ahead.

“Th e economies of China and India continue to record very strong growth and Japan and other traditional Asian markets are showing good signs of recovery,” Mr Roche said.

“Th at is a strong pointer to exports in 2010 outstripping 2009 levels.

“But having said that, there are many challenges ahead for the industry as it prepares for what could shape as another ‘supercycle’ of minerals and energy demand growth.”

Mr Roche said there was ongoing concern over the under-performance of the rail system and industry needed to convince the Queensland Government that it had made a bad decision in seeking to fl oat QR’s coal rail services as a vertically integrated entity.

“Add to that the ongoing uncertainty around an emissions trading scheme, playing catch-up in improving cumbersome project approval processes, a looming skills shortage, continuing risks from global economic developments on market demand and a bloated Australian dollar and you can understand use of the term cautious optimism,” he said.

A landscaping project of grand proportions is nearing completion at the Wesfarmers Curragh mine, west of Rockhampton.

Contractors have excavated 16 million cubic metres of earth and replanted a 170ha tract with grasses and trees as part of a creek diversion scheme that will allow access to a further 47 million tonnes of run-of-mine coal.

Wesfarmers Curragh executive general manager Rod Bridges said the company had issued a certifi cate of practical completion for the $130 million project to principal contractor Downer EDI Mining in December. It planned to close off the original creek route in mid-January and begin pre-strip work on the new mining area around May 2010, he said.

“Th e Blackwater Creek in its original alignment divided the Curragh and Curragh East pits, so what we’ve managed to do is put a completely new Blackwater Creek alignment along the eastern boundary of our mining lease,” Mr Bridges said.

“Th at means we can join the pits and mine the coal under the old creek.”

Mr Bridges said the project was fi nishing about 12 months ahead of schedule due to a successful civil works phase and a good strike rate with the seed-impregnated mulch applied to areas requiring revegetation.

Blackwater Creek carries only a small artifi cial fl ow, comprised of Blackwater sewage treatment system discharge, unless the area

Th e Wesfarmers Curragh operation enters 2010 with a “bullish” outlook and a $296 million expansion project inked into the business diary.

Th e expansion will see the Bowen Basin operation lift its metallurgical coal output from 6.5–7 million tonnes per annum to 8–8.5 mtpa from late 2011, subject to market conditions.

It will include the construction of a new stand-alone coal handling and preparation plant.

Wesfarmers Curragh executive general manager Rod Bridges said construction was set to begin in April and should generate about 250 jobs, while the long-term increase in operational positions would be about 40 or 50.

Th e Wesfarmers board’s recent announcement on the planned investment at Curragh came after the operation achieved a 12 per cent export sales increase last fi nancial year against a backdrop of plummeting global pig iron production, a feat that saw it win

the minerals and energy category of the 47th Australian Export Awards.

Mr Bridges described the operation’s position entering the new year as extremely positive.

“Th e (Wesfarmers) management team and the team here at Curragh are very bullish regarding the long-term predictions for metallurgical coal and mining operations in this area,” he said

“We’re very enthusiastic and very pleased to have the support of Wesfarmers.”

Th e expansion plan is underpinned by an agreement with Stanwell Corporation which gives the mine access to an additional 46 million tonnes of reserves held by Stanwell in the Curragh North area.

Wesfarmers Resources managing director Stewart Butel said the project would ensure the company could take advantage of the forecast increase in seaborne metallurgical coal demand.

extensive planning and a considerable amount of work to maintain biodiversity.

One of the biggest hurdles in the diversion project had been to re-establish vegetation along the new creek alignment, he said.

Gladstone-based company

Lanyonscapes was responsible for much of the revegetation work, including installing 100ha of jute mesh on the creek batters. Owner Simon Lanyon said inquiries with suppliers indicated this was the largest such mesh application in the southern hemisphere.

A section of the new creek alignment with earthworks and rehabilitation completed.

receives signifi cant rainfall.Mr Bridges said shifting the

creek channel had required a raft of government approvals,

Shift in scenery for Wesfarmers Curragh

Rod BridgesWesfarmers Curragh

executive general manager

Mine operatorsin bullish mood

Gavin WendtMine Life senior resource analyst

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11The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Mackay Regional Capacity

An innovative pair of friends is hoping to make increased inroads into the mining industry with a radio-controlled machine invented to remove coal from underneath conveyor belts.

CNS Services Mackay co-director Keith Carmody believes there is a huge potential market for the device, patented as the “mini material handler”.

Th e mini material handler evolved from a miniature machine Mr Carmody built some years ago to cart and level gravel under low-set houses.

Th e diesel fi tter said he had been planning to turn the machine into a ride-on toy dozer for children when his cane farmer friend David Shepherd, who was working at a coal port at the time, urged him to instead attempt building a device to clear debris from under low-clearance conveyors.

Th e build-up of coal under conveyor belts created a fi re risk and hindered maintenance work on rollers and other components, Mr Carmody said.

Th e prototype the two men created was in use for six months

at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal in 2008. Th e pair has since produced a series II version, which Mr Carmody said was built to comply with the safety requirements of the major Bowen Basin coal companies.

“We received a patent two weeks before Christmas for Australia and the ones outside Australia are going through now,” he said.

Th e machine was in use at the Newlands coal preparation and handling plant in January.

Mr Carmody said the mini material handler had been designed and built to ensure safety around conveyor belts and personnel. Th e radio-controlled machine cut from one side of the belt to the other in one motion, pushing material out behind it, rather than moving rapidly back and forwards, he said.

“Th e machine also pushes down while cutting and does not lift like a loader while fi lling,” Mr Carmody said.

“All material is moved through the centre of the main frame, which is separate to the track frame.”

A Mackay business is striving to get the

word out on the capabilities of its newly

patented mini material handler.

Mr Carmody said he and Mr Shepherd had also designed and built two-wheel-drive tipper utes to move coal from conveyor bunds to reject heaps.

“Th e reason for these utes is that stacker reclaimers have only 1.9m clearances,” he said.

Many four-wheel-drive vehicles were too tall to fi t underneath, especially as many sites required them to be fi tted with roll-bars, he said.

While CNS Services Mackay originally envisaged producing the mini material handlers themselves and hiring them out, Mr Carmody said they had realised the company was not big enough for such an approach.

Mr Carmody said also they had found it was very diffi cult to break into the mining industry.

Th e lowdown on coal clearing

The radio-controlled mini material handler invented in the Mackay district.

Local businesses are preparing themselves for “boom two”

as confi dence levels in the Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac

region remain strong, according to the Regional Economic

Development Corporation (REDC).

Sixty-fi ve per cent of respondents in the latest REDC

business confi dence survey felt that 2010 would see business

activity increase. Th e regional development register listed more

than $46 billion worth of projects, including the Northern

Missing Link, contributing heavily to the prediction that

“boom two” was on its way, REDC chief executive offi cer

Narelle Pearse said.

She said the high value of projects currently under study -

$30.6 billion - was a positive sign, indicating that investors

were willing to spend money in the region.

A recently released Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

showed a 19 per cent increase in hiring intentions across

Queensland for the fi rst quarter of 2010.

Manpower Australia and New Zealand managing director

Lincoln Crawley said employers in the mining sector were

gradually returning to pre-downturn hiring expectations.

“However, there is still quite a way to go before the industry

will reach the peak employment outlooks seen in 2007 and the

fi rst part of 2008,” Mr Crawley said.

Business survey shows confi dence

Aspiring mine electrician

Cohen Crispin’s resume carries

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Th e 17-year-old central

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infrastructure work preparation.

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and Energy Academy (QMEA),

was developed by SkillsDMC,

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Th ey were still at the stage of

proving their machine’s capability

and getting the word out to

potential clients, he said.

“We’d love it to be

manufactured and to be supplying

them all over the place,” Mr

Carmody said.

“But whether that happens or

not is another matter.”

council for the resources and infrastructure sectors.

Cohen had considered following in his father’s footsteps as a mechanic until undertaking a Year 9 science project where he had to “wire up’ a model house.

“I liked that and when I did work experience (as an electrical apprentice) I liked it more and more,” he said.

Cohen has his heart set on becoming an electrician in the mining industry and has put his name down with BMA for an apprenticeship in central Queensland.

In addition to the newly introduced Certifi cate II course, Cohen has completed a Certifi cate I course in resource and infrastructure operations, a Certifi cate II course in engineering and a Mining Industry Skills Centre work readiness program based on units of competency from the Certifi cate II in surface coal operations qualifi cation.

His training included work experience at BMA’s Goonyella Riverside mine and with local electrical contractor Steve Longhurst.

Th e Certifi cate II course in resource and infrastructure work preparation was designed with industry input to provide students with a working knowledge of risk assessment, hazard management,

communication and work

procedures on a mine site.

QMEA fi eld offi cer Delaney

Nugent said the training

package had received great

support from BMA, Anglo Coal

and Macarthur Coal.

“Th ey’ve been fantastic in the

development of resources and

the content of the course to

ensure it’s giving the kids what

they need to know on a worksite

and in providing the work

placements as well,” she said.

Moranbah leads the way with new course

Cohen Crispin (front row, second from the left) and his fellow graduates

with CTEC trainer Samantha Curran and QMEA fi eld offi cer Delaney Nugent.

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13The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Townsville Regional Capacity

Queensland Nickel is close to sealing contracts that should see a 15 per cent increase in ore entering the Port of Townsville to be processed at the Yabulu refi nery this year.

Th e company’s success in securing further feedstock comes on top of a run of production records since the plant narrowly escaped closure in 2009 thanks to its purchase by billionaire businessman Clive Palmer.

Th e eff orts of chief operating offi cer Neil Meadows in steering the operation through the tough times were recently recognised at the inaugural North Queensland Engineering and Resources Excellence Awards.

Mr Meadows described winning the North Queensland Resources Industry Professional of the Year title as an honour, noting it was also recognition for all of the personnel at the Yabulu operation “for surviving”.

Queensland Nickel enters 2010 with production levels hovering around 15 to 20 per cent above budget – a budget Mr Meadows said was described in some quarters as “stretched” when it was set.

Th e plant had gone on to beat all monthly production measures in the fi nal months of 2009, he said.

“In the past we had produced 2400 tonnes of nickel metal once in a month, for example,” Mr Meadows said.

“In November we produced 2975 - that’s smashing the record basically – and there was nearly 250 tonnes on top of that produced as oxide.”

Mr Meadows puts the production gains at the plant down to increased faith in management and focus by the workforce in general.

Th e plant is tracking towards an output of 33,000 tonnes of nickel for 2009-10.

Th at’s a fi gure Mr Meadows said would be a record excluding the addition of the mixed nickel and cobalt intermediate hydroxide product (MHP) received for some time from Ravensthorpe in Western Australia under BHP Billiton.

Th e recently expanded Yabulu plant includes sections that have become redundant since feed from that source stopped.

Mr Meadows said both himself and Queensland Nickel ore supply and business development manager Peter Harrington were looking at all options to get the extended plant running.

He confi rmed the company would be talking to Ravensthorpe’s new owners, First

Townsville’s nickel refi nery heads into 2010

with a run of production records on the board

and new feedstock deals on the near horizon.

Quantum Minerals, but also

signalled potentially brighter

prospects in PNG.

“We actually understand that

there may be other more sensible

routes for them (First Quantum)

to go down with their output,”

Mr Meadows said.

“Th at’s why we’re also trying

to get in to talk to Ramu about

their off take – that is a material

more in need of refi ning than the

Ravensthorpe material.”

Th e $1.7 billion Ramu nickel

laterite plant, on the north coast

of New Guinea, is expected to

start production in 2010 or 2011.

In addition to seeking new

sources of MHP, Mr Meadows

said Queensland Nickel was

making good progress in sourcing more ore for roasting.

“We’re hoping to bring 4.3 million wet tonnes through Townsville port in 2010 -that’s at least 15 per cent above the tonnage moved at the port in 2009,” he said.

“We are gaining access to more ore. We’re in the initial stages of agreements.”

Th e next big hurdle for the operation was the potential ramifi cations of an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), he said.

“Th at’s a signifi cant threat for us,” Mr Meadows said.

“Although nickel prices are reasonable at the moment, the exchange rate is quite

horrendous.Th e imposition of an

ETS on an industry-wide basis

would really hurt us. We need to

diff erentiate ourselves from BHP

Billiton and Minara.”

He said MHP processing had

a smaller carbon footprint than

roasting nickel ore.

Mr Meadows recently

relocated to Perth, where he will

continue to act as Queensland

Nickel’s senior executive as well

as playing a role in other projects

for Mineralogy, the parent

company owned by Mr Palmer.

Newly appointed general

manager – operations, Trefor

Flood, will be the senior

production executive on site.

Team Yabulu kicking goals

Chief operating offi cer Neil Meadows shows soccer star Robbie Fowler, captain

of the Queensland Nickel-sponsored North Queensland Fury team, around

the Yabulu site during a ‘meet and greet’ visit. Photo: Stewart McLean

Trefor FloodQueensland Nickel

general manager - operations

Meeting mine proponents on their own turf is part of Tracey Lines’ new strategy to ensure the Port of Townsville is prepared to meet the demands of the array of operations expected to come on line in the next fi ve years.

As the organisation’s business development research offi cer, Ms Lines is the fi rst point of contact for companies involved in new projects requiring port services.

Trade through the Port of Townsville is expected to triple

A major upgrade of the Bruce Highway south of Tully was named North Queensland Engineering Project of the Year in a new awards forum for the region.

Th e winning project was delivered by the Tully Alliance team, including BMD Construction, Albem Operations, AECOM and the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Other winners in the inaugural North Queensland Engineering and Resources Excellence Awards included AECOM’s David Derrick (North Queensland Professional Engineer of the Year), Queensland Nickel chief operating offi cer Neil Meadows (North Queensland Resources Industry Professional of the Year) and Townsville City Council engineer Kelly Stokes (North Queensland Woman in Engineering 2009).

Engineers Australia Townsville Local Group chair Govinda Pandey said while Engineers Australia ran annual Engineering Excellence Awards, including Queensland and national titles, and the Cairns local group had conducted awards in that region, this was the fi rst time Townsville’s engineering achievements had been recognised in this way.

“Th e unique thing we’ve done here is get AusImm (the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy) involved,” Mr Pandey said.

“A lot of our engineering fi rms do design and construction for mining. Th ere is a lot of interrelation there for AusImm members and Engineers Australia, particularly in Townsville.

“We thought rather than going individually we would use the synergy and get more people involved.”

in the short to medium term, with the majority of that growth coming from mineral exports.

With the long lead times involved in providing infrastructure to handle such growth and complex supply chain planning required, Ms Lines said it was important for the port operators to start discussions early in mine developments.

“We’re trying to increase our interaction with the mines,” she said.

“I’m going to be coming out more often and trying to deal with the exploration companies (developing mines) on site.”

Ms Lines recently met with CuDeco representatives on the company’s exploration tenements outside Cloncurry, the fi rst such fi eld trip she has made.

Ms Lines said being proactive in identifying and initiating discussion with potential port users was benefi cial for the organisation’s forecasting.

She monitors the activities of 67 mining companies via website postings and ASX announcements as well as networking through industry groups such as MITEZ (Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone).

Tracey Lines meets with CuDeco engineering consultant John Green in

Cloncurry. Photo: Roslyn Budd

Local talent applauded

Port reaches out to new miners

14 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateINDUSTRY UPDATE - COAL AND GAS

Two new electric shovels have been built and commissioned at Rio Tinto Coal

Australia’s Hail Creek mine site, 90km south-west of Mackay.

Th e mine’s fi rst shovel, a P&H XPC4100 model, was delivered to the site

in November and the second, a Terex RH340 shovel, was commissioned in

December.

“It is currently a dynamic time for Hail Creek mine, with new equipment

arriving, an increase in employee numbers, increasing production rates and

improved site productivities,” Hail Creek general manager Andrew Woodley said.

“As always though, the safety of our employees and contractors will remain our

top priority.”

The P&H shovel at work at Hail Creek mine.

Digging deep

Call for terminal interest

North Queensland Bulk Ports

Corporation (NQBP) is seeking

proponents interested in developing

additional coal terminal infrastructure at

Abbot Point.

NQBP has advertised nationally

inviting companies to indicate interest

for the right to develop further coal

terminal infrastructure at Abbot Point

known as X80 and X110.

Th e X50 expansion work under way

at Abbot Point Coal Terminal to

take capacity to 50 mtpa is due for

completion in 2011.

Xstrata grants $2 billion contract

Queensland Rail has secured a $2

billion contract to haul coal from

Xstrata’s Newlands, Collinsville, Oaky

Creek and Rolleston mines.

QRNational Coal executive general

manager Marcus McAuliff e said the

new long-term contracts would begin in

2010 and 2011.

Strong results for New Hope

New Hope Corporation recorded a 20

per cent rise in coal sales in the fi rst

quarter of 2009/2010 and an 11 per

cent lift in production compared to

the previous year. Company chairman

Robert Milner said operations

continued to perform strongly due to

increased export sales into Japan and

China, and despite the eff ect of higher

exchange rates.

Meanwhile

managing director

Robert Neale

reported that the

expansion of the

company’s New

Acland mine

in the Darling

Downs region

to 4.8 million

tonnes per annum

was essentially

complete in late November and the

mine was operating at the forecast rate.

Carbon Energy fi res up

Carbon Energy expects to have power

fl owing to the grid by the end of

January from a fi ve-megawatt power

station powered by syngas produced

from its underground coal gasifi cation

(UCG) facility at Bloodwood Creek,

west of Dalby in Queensland.

Th is was an Australian fi rst for fuelling

this type of power station with syngas,

Carbon Energy managing director

Andrew Dash said.

Power industry’s algal bloom

MBD Energy is investing $2.5 million

to trial revolutionary algal carbon

capture and storage (BIO-CCS)

technology at the Tarong power station

near Kingaroy.

A newly opened algal bio-fuel research

and development facility at Townsville’s

James Cook University is advancing

the technology, which uses algae to

consume carbon dioxide.

MBD will partner the university to

construct test facilities at the Tarong

plant along with two other coal-fi red

power stations in NSW and Victoria.

Anglo American, which acquired a 20

per cent stake in MBD late last year,

said the team would also be exploring

biological ways to reduce the methane

contained within underground mine

ventilation air.

MetroCoal raring to go

Brisbane-based

thermal coal

exploration

company

MetroCoal made

its debut on

the Australian

Securities

Exchange in

December after a

fully subscribed

Initial Public

Off ering (IPO).

MetroCoal, which listed with a market

capitalisation of $35.4 million, has its

focus on tenements in the Surat Basin.

Chief executive offi cer Mike O’Brien

said the $10 million raised through the

IPO process would principally fund

a two-year exploration drilling and

evaluation program.

Environmental tick for Daunia

Queensland’s Co-ordinator General

has approved the environmental impact

statement for the Daunia mine near

Moranbah, part of BMA’s Bowen Basin

Coal Growth Project.

Th e planned mine will have an

estimated construction workforce of

450 and operational workforce of 300,

with the majority to be housed at an

accommodation village at Coppabella.

Th e company said the Daunia

project remained at feasibility stage,

pending owners’ and Commonwealth

Government approvals.

BMA will establish a process to advise

local business people of tender and

contract packages available during

the construction and operation of the

project.

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15The Mining Advocate | January 2010 INDUSTRY UPDATE - COAL AND GAS

Cash boost for Collinsville venture

Japan’s second largest steel producer,

JFE Steel Corporation, will invest about

$560 million in a new coal project near

Collinsville, in the northern Bowen

Basin.

JFE Steel recently announced the

deal, saying it would acquire a 20 per

cent interest in QCoal’s Byerwen coal

project, which is expected to start

production in 2012 and turn out 10

million tonnes of premium hard coking

coal per annum.

Queensland Mines and Energy

Minister Stephen Robertson said

the arrangement would allow further

drilling to prove up coal resources.

Th e State Government had assisted

the venture through its streamlining

approvals initiative, he said.

Belvedere declared signifi cant

Th e proposed $2 billion Belvedere coal

mine near Moura in the Bowen Basin

has been declared a signifi cant project

by Queensland’s Co-ordinator-General

Colin Jensen.

Th e Belvedere joint venture consortium

- consisting of Vale Australia, Aquila

Resources and AMCI - is proposing a

longwall coking coal mine producing

up to two million tonnes per annum

(mtpa) of metallurgical coking coal in

the initial stage of operations, eventually

exceeding 10 mtpa.

Hancock proposals move forward

Th e Queensland Government has

accepted an application from Hancock

Prospecting to declare an infrastructure

facility of signifi cance for the coal rail

corridor from Alpha and Kevin’s Corner

to Abbot Point.

Hancock Prospecting chair

Gina Rinehart said the proposed

developments would create the biggest

thermal coal mine complex in Australia,

with annual exports at full production of

60 million tonnes of good quality, low

ash, low gas and low sulphur coal.

She said the company was now able

to commence its bankable feasibility

study for the Alpha and Kevin’s Corner

operations.

Coal production is expected start late in

2013, pending approvals.

Bow powers ahead

Bow Energy has launched a $50 million

project to develop a 30 megawatt

power plant near Blackwater in central

Queensland.

Th e company

has contracted

Clarke Energy to

build the plant,

with an expected

completion date of

early 2011.

Bow chief

executive offi cer

– commercial,

John De Stefani,

said the new

power plant would be supplied by coal

seam gas (CSG) from the company’s

Blackwater CSG Field, providing early

fi nancial returns from the company’s

strategically located gas assets.

Contract win for Asciano

Asciano has won a 10-year contract

to haul coal for Isaac Plains Coal

Management, a joint venture between

Aquila Resources and Vale.

Th e contract, from July 2010, provides

Isaac Plains Coal with rail haulage

capacity of 1.1 million tonnes per

annum from its Isaac Plains mine to the

Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal.

Major project status

Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer’s

China First thermal coal project in

the Galilee Basin has received Major

Project Facilitation status from the

Federal Government.

Infrastructure Minister Anthony

Albanese said the proposed $7.5 billion

mine and transport infrastructure

project, to be developed by Palmer’s

Waratah Coal company, would deliver

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considerable benefi ts to the national

economy, including thousands of

construction and ongoing jobs.

It would also generate annual export

earnings of approximately $3 billion.

Th e mine, west of Emerald, would

be developed in stages, with the fi rst

delivery to international customers

expected in 2013, he said.

North Goonyella peace talks

Th e Queensland

CFMEU Mining

and Energy

Division and

Peabody Energy’s

North Goonyella

Coal have entered a

conciliation process

following a heated

dispute including a

mine lock-out.

Th e parties have

agreed to a process, including an end

to industrial action and suspension of

associated legal action, to bring the

enterprise bargaining dispute at the

North Goonyella underground coal

mine, 200km north-west of Mackay, to

an amicable conclusion. Th ey expect the

process to conclude by mid February.

About 280 employees would be subject

to the proposed enterprise agreement.

Good intercepts for Stanmore

Newly listed company Stanmore Coal

has reported signifi cant intercepts at its

Surat Basin project, Th e Range.

“Based on the drill results to date it

is likely the size of the deposit will

substantially exceed the previous

exploration target of 40-50 million

tonnes as outlined in the company’s

IPO prospectus dated October 30

2009,” company secretary Duncan

Cornish said.

Milestone for Washpool

Aquila Resources has submitted

its mining lease application for the

Washpool coking coal project, north-

west of Blackwater, and expects to

have a feasibility study complete in the

fi rst quarter of this year. Th e proposed

open-cut operation, positioned between

Wesfarmers Curragh Mine and Ensham

mine, would employ about 290 people

at full production.

Coal will be mined at a rate of about

four million tonnes per annum (mtpa)

run-of-mine coal, to produce between

1.6 and 2mtpa coking coal product,

until the depletion of economic reserves

- which are expected to last for 18 years.

Green light for PNG LNG

Proponents have announced approval

for the $16.5 billion Papua New Guinea

Liquefi ed Natural Gas (PNG LNG)

Project to go ahead, pending completion

of sale and purchase agreements

with LNG buyers and fi nalisation of

fi nancing arrangements with lenders.

Th e project partners - including

Exxon Mobil Corporation, Oil

Search, Independent Public Business

Corporation (PNG Government) and

Santos - plan to build facilities capable

of producing 6.6 million tonnes of LNG

per annum.

Macarthur makes takeover bid

Macarthur Coal has announced a

takeover bid for Gloucester Coal, plans

to acquire Noble Group’s interest in

the Middlemount joint venture and

negotiations to acquire a majority stake

in Donaldson Coal Holdings.

“Th e proposed transactions will create

a great Australian coal company,”

Macarthur Coal chairman Keith

DeLacy said.

“Th e transactions will transform

Macarthur into Australia’s leading

independent coal producer with pro

forma 2009 sale volumes of 7.5 million

tonnes and strong geographic, mine,

port and product diversifi cation.”

Th e new Macarthur would include six

operating mines in Queensland and

New South Wales and a large tenement

portfolio.

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16 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateINDUSTRY UPDATE

Th e 89-year-old founder of Golding Contractors has been recognised for his services to the state’s resources sector.

Cyril Golding was awarded the Queensland Resources Council Medal at the QRC’s annual resources sector lunch.

QRC chief executive Michael Roche described Mr Golding as the epitome of a quiet achiever and great philanthropist, with his work for the Gladstone community earning him the title “Mr Gladstone”.

“Cyril represents the best of the best in our industry and it’s the initiative, passion and inventiveness of people such as Cyril that have made this industry the great creator of prosperity for Queensland that it has become,” he said.

Mr Golding founded Cyril Golding Earthmoving, later to become known as Golding Contractors, in 1942. When he stepped down from the company in late 2007, Golding Contractors had an annual turnover of $450 million.

Th e mining services and civil infrastructure company now employs more than 1000 people and operates one of the largest privately-owned mining and earthmoving fl eets in the southern hemisphere.

Cyril Golding (centre) receives his award from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche. Photo: Mark Duff us

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New copper fi nd for Redbank

Redbank Copper has made a new

discovery at its Copperado prospect

in the Northern Territory, which it

is exploring as part of a 50/50 joint

venture with Glencore International.

Early sampling from the breccia

structure has returned results up to 29.7

per cent copper in rockchips.

Th e Copperado prospect forms part of

Redbank’s 3700sq km landholding in

the McArthur Basin region, near the

Queensland border. It is located about

16km north-east of the Redbank mine.

Second chance for silver site

Alcyone Resources is assessing the

potential to resume silver production

at the Twin Hills mine near Texas in

Queensland’s south-eastern corner,

with a view to re-commissioning the

operation during 2010/11.

Alcyone listed on the Australian

Securities Exchange in November

following the recapitalisation and

reconstruction of Macmin Silver.

Th e Twin Hills operation was placed

on full care and maintenance in July

2009 after Macmin was placed into

administration in November 2008.

Focus on mineral processing

Rio Tinto and the University of

Queensland have announced the

formation of the Rio Tinto Centre

for Advanced Mineral Sorting, to

be located at the Julius Kruttschnitt

Mineral Research Centre in Brisbane.

Th e $11 million centre will focus on the

development of advanced technologies

for the separation and upgrading of

important minerals, such as copper and

nickel, with increased energy effi ciency.

Exploration boost in 2010

Adelaide Resources expects to double

its exploration spend on the Rover gold-

copper project to more than $3 million

in 2010. Th e decision will see continuous

drilling on the project, 80km south-

west of Tennant Creek in the Northern

Territory, after wet season rains end.

“Our 2009 results from Rover lend

weight to our view that this project

is currently one of the most exciting

copper-gold exploration destinations

in Australia,” Adelaide Resources

managing director Chris Drown said.

TNG gaining ground

TNG has increased its exploration

landholding at the Mount Peake project

to more than 2000sq km.

Th e company recently lodged two new

exploration licence applications over an

area of 879sq km, covering the southern

extension to the Mount Peake magnetic

anomaly. Th e project lies 80km north-

east of Alice Springs.

Drilling starts at East Rover

Western Desert Resources and TNG

have kicked off fi eld work on the East

Rover gold-copper project near Tennant

Creek in the Northern Territory.

Access tracks are being cleared for a

planned drilling program to commence

in mid January. Western Desert said all

necessary governmental and Aboriginal

clearances had been completed.

Jabiru case settled

Parties involved in the long-running

Jabiru native title case, centred on land

surrounding the Ranger uranium mine

in the Northern Territory, have reached

an in-principle resolution.

Energy Resources of Australia (ERA)

chief executive Rob Atkinson said the

proposed settlement would formally

recognise Mirarr traditional ownership

of the land and provided certainty for

the future of the town of Jabiru.

“ERA has been operating the Ranger

mine on Aboriginal land for over three

decades. We are confi dent that the

town will continue to operate eff ectively

under the new lease arrangements and

that there will be no negative impact on

town users and visitors,” he said.

Th e Jabiru claim over more than 68sq

km of land in and around the township

of Jabiru, in Kakadu National Park, was

fi rst lodged in September 1997.

Batavia keen on NT tenements

Batavia Mining is negotiating the

purchase of a 3444sq km package of

Northern Territory iron ore tenements.

Th e company recently entered into

a heads of agreement with Northern

Australian Iron Ore and Australian

Ilmenite for the tenements, centred

about 475km south-east of Darwin.

Vanadium discovery

Joint venture partners Crescent Gold

and Southern Uranium have reported a

signifi cant discovery of outcropping

vanadium and iron mineralisation in the

Calvert Hills region of the Northern

Territory.

Th e Vanadis Prospect had the potential

to be a large mineralised system in

a new vanadium province, Southern

Uranium managing director John

Anderson said.

17The Mining Advocate | January 2010 INDUSTRY UPDATE

Kagara buys out neighbour

Kagara has bought the Liontown base

metals project near Charters Towers

from Liontown Resources for $4.5

million.

Th e deposit is 30km from Kagara’s

Th alanga processing plant and lies

adjacent to its high-grade Waterloo

deposit. It contains 1.85 million tonnes

at 7.5 per cent zinc, 2.4 per cent lead,

0.6 per cent copper, 28g per tonne silver

and 0.55g per tonne gold.

Kagara executive director Joe Treacy

said the deal would signifi cantly

increase the company’s resources in the

area and followed a recent upgrade to

the Th alanga plant to enable processing

of polymetallic ore.

Century back online

MMG Century has restarted

concentrate production 11 weeks after

suff ering a failure in the pipeline that

carries its product to port in slurry form.

Th e restart followed a number of weeks

of careful testing and monitoring

following the installation of a bypass

and associated repair work, general

manager Karl Spaleck said.

During the outage, the north-west

Queensland zinc operation continued to

stockpile ore from the Century pit and

completed scheduled maintenance and

repair work on the plant and at the port

facility.

Mr Spaleck said the company was yet

to pinpoint the cause of the pipeline

failure, despite metallurgical tests and

other investigations involving a team of

industry experts.

GBM’s $55m investment deal

Th e world’s largest buyer of copper

concentrate, Pan Pacifi c Copper Co, has

entered an agreement which could see it

inject up to $55 million into north-west

Queensland copper-gold projects.

GBM Resources recently announced it

had signed a letter of intent for a deal

that would see Pan Pacifi c earn a 51

per cent interest in seven exploration

permits and nine applications in the

Mount Isa region, by spending $15

million within the fi rst six years.

It would be entitled to increase its

share of the venture to 90 per cent

by spending a further $40 million on

exploration and development of the

tenements over the following fi ve years.

New partner for Legend

Legend

International

Holdings has

formed a strategic

alliance with a

major Chinese

fertiliser producer

for the planned

development of

its phosphate

operations in the

Mount Isa region.

Th e Wengfu Group has agreed to work

with Legend on the feasibility study

for the mining and benefi ciation of

phosphate rock at Legend’s Georgina

Basin Phosphate Project.

Pending a positive feasibility study,

Wengfu will become an equity partner

in the project and the companies will

also investigate the production of

speciality phosphate products derived

from phosphoric acid manufacture.

Legend recently announced it had

put back the fi rst production of direct

shipping ore from the project from late

2009, saying the development of mining

operations at its D-Tree North deposit

would not be able to commence until

the end of the fi rst quarter of 2010.

A mining lease application has also been

submitted for its Paradise North deposit

and was expected to be granted early in

2010, allowing mining operations and

production to commence in the second

quarter, the company said.

Metallica grabs Greenvale mine

Metallica Minerals has snapped up

the former Greenvale mine tenements

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for $1.65 million to expand its North

Queensland nickel-cobalt holdings.

Th e company said the purchase,

from Straits Resources and Resource

Mining Corporation, brought an

excellent development site with existing

infrastructure.

Metallica has started a pre-feasibility

study on establishing a processing

operation at the Greenvale site, using

feed sourced from Greenvale and

blended with

cobalt-rich nickel

laterite ores from

its Kokomo deposit,

immediately north

of the site.

Th e Greenvale

mine operated for

18 years to 1992,

transporting nickel

ore by rail to the

Yabulu refi nery

near Townsville.

Mining heavyweight honoured

Mount Isa mining industry pioneer

MIM Holdings was honoured in the

recent Premier of Queensland’s Smart

Business Awards for making the

largest impact on the State’s economy

over the past 150 years. Premier Anna

Bligh named the company as winner

of the Retrospective/Overall Award

at a ceremony marking the eve of

Queensland’s 150th birthday.

Th e company, purchased by Xstrata in

2003, was a Queensland success story

which continued to make a positive

impact on the economy and on the lives

of ordinary Queenslanders, Ms Bligh

said.

Wild Rivers hurdle

A Wild Rivers decision with

ramifi cations for Cape Alumina’s

Pisolite Hills bauxite project on western

Cape York Peninsula has been postponed

until March 2010.

Chief executive offi cer Paul Messenger

said the company was disappointed by

the Queensland Government’s deferral

of the Wenlock River Basin declaration,

but welcomed the opportunity to

provide further information.

Th e declaration could impact on the

proposed mine, depending on how the

boundaries and buff er zones for the

protected area are drawn.

Meanwhile, the company has applauded

the government’s response to a petition

from celebrity wildlife advocate Terri

Irwin against mining on any part of the

Bertiehaugh cattle station, renamed as

the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve after

its purchase in 2007.

Cape Alumina’s exploration tenements

overlap a small part of Bertiehaugh.

Dr Messenger said the government had

stated its commitment to due process.

Cape Alumina plans to complete the

environmental impact statement for the

Pisolite Hills project within six months

and hopes to start construction in 2012.

Former Matrix operation sold

Cape Lambert Iron Ore has added the

Leichhardt copper project in north-west

Queensland to its portfolio, securing

the former Matrix Metals operation for

$8.5 million.

Matrix went into voluntary

administration in November 2008, with

receivers and managers subsequently

appointed.

Th e Leichhardt project, about 100km

north-east of Mount Isa, includes the

Mt Cuthbert processing plant, the

Mt Watson open-pit mine, a granted

tenement package of about 800sq km

and further tenement applications.

Executive chairman Tony Sage said

the acquisition of the project was in

line with Cape Lambert’s strategy of

investing in undervalued or distressed

assets or companies and adding value

through technical and corporate support

before looking for ways to realise the

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18 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateBETWEEN SHIFTS

Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone (MITEZ) dinner

Steps 4 Smiles barbecue

Gidgee Inn, Cloncurry

Roma St Parklands, Brisbane

Andrew Daniels (Cloncurry Shire mayor) with David Glasson

(MITEZ chair).

Paul Woodhouse (McKinlay Shire mayor), Jo Culbertson (Desert

Knowledge Australia) and Greg Palm (DEEDI).

Patricia O’Callaghan and Brett Peterson (both from the Mount Isa

Chamber of Commerce).

Taking care of cooking duties are Stuart Vaccaneo (CFMEU

Mining and Energy Queensland district vice-president) and Greg

Dalliston (CFMEU Mining and Energy district check inspector).

Theresa Malone (CFMEU Moranbah offi ce), Shannice Mathieson

(CFMEU Brisbane offi ce) and Amanda Ross (CFMEU Brisbane

offi ce).

Chris Brodsky (CFMEU Central counsellor) and Jim Valery (CFMEU

Mining and Energy state secretary).

Mike Westerman (Ernest Henry Mining) with Elle Hilton (Legend

International).

John Wharton (Richmond Shire mayor), Brendan McNamara ( Flinders

Shire mayor) and Tony Parsons (Townsville City Council).

Shane Cagney (McKinlay Shire) with Tracey Lines (Port of Townsville).

Lance Schubert (Goonyella Riverside Mine) and Will Craven (vice-

president Broadmeadow Lodge).

Rachel Lee and Sarah Campbell (both from Peak Downs mine). Brooke Schubert and partner Christian Briggs (Oaky North mine).

PHOTOS: Roslyn Budd

PHOTOS: Davey Rintala

19The Mining Advocate | January 2010 BETWEEN SHIFTS

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CFMEU Mining and Energy head Greg Betts’ farewell drinks

North Queensland Fury ‘meet and greet’

St Pauls on Leichhardt, Brisbane

Queensland Nickel refi nery, Townsville

Rick Hibble (CFMEU Callide Valley Lodge president), Chris Hunt

(Gladstone Port Lodge delegate) and Mark Zerner (Gladstone

Port Lodge president).

Wayne Woodhouse (Saraji Lodge president) and Col Hawkins

(Saraji Lodge area delegate).

Scott Waters (NQ Fury) with Basil Ahyick (Queensland Nickel).

Siva Chettiar and Alan Parkes (both Queensland Nickel). Robbie Fowler (NQ Fury) and Trefor Flood (Queensland Nickel).

Rob Kelman (CFMEU safety representative for Oaky 1), Mark

Weaver (Crinum Lodge vice-president), Chris Walsh (safety

representative, Crinum) and Bruce West (Crinum Lodge president).

Rob Law (CFMEU Peak Downs vice-president), Terry Low (Peak Downs

president), Greg Betts (retiring Queensland CFMEU Mining and Energy

president) and Mark Genovese (Maritime Mining Power Credit Union).

Melissa Butt and Michael Fitzsimmons (both Queensland Nickel).

Frank Baker (CFMEU Central counsellor) and Jennifer Hobson

(CFMEU District Offi ce industrial offi cer).

Steve Pierce (CFMEU Queensland vice-president), Wayne

McAndrew (CFMEU national vice-president) and Geoff Wilson

(State Minister for Education and Training).

Michael Myles and Reg Hutana (both with Queensland Nickel).

John Tambouras (NQ Fury) with Tony Wade (Queensland Nickel).

PHOTOS: Davey Rintala

PHOTOS: Stewart McLean

20 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateBETWEEN SHIFTS

AusIMM annual president’s dinner

Mackay Area Industry Network (MAIN) breakfast

MoMo’s, Townsville

Ocean International, Mackay

David and Leonides Hunter. Patrick and Kelly Stokes with Sarah Hepworth. Debbie and Jeff Innes.

Andrew Duck (Brown & Bird), Tony Stevens (Paynter Dixon) and Murray Gibbs (Ready Workforce). Carl Howe (DMS Group), Peter Hamilton (Healthpoint Chemist Group) and James Kearney (G & S

Engineering Services).

Jamie Tregear and Luisa Thorburn. Stuart and Narelle Moore. AusIMM North Queensland branch chairman Mark Daniell with

national president Greg Chalmers.

Mark Burkett and Greg Mulhall (both from Team Supply Logistics). Zoe Yaworsky (Hipfi sh Design Studio) and Michael McGrath

(North Queensland Cranes).

Narelle Pearse (MAIN) and Dr Ariel Lierman (Energy Users

Association of Australia).

PHOTOS: Stewart McLean

PHOTOS: Lauren Reed

21The Mining Advocate | January 2010 BETWEEN SHIFTS

Engineers Australia Northern Division AGM

Premier of Queensland’s Smart Business Awards

Survey House, Darwin

Customs House, Brisbane.

Jim Walker (QMI Solutions) and Steve Doyle (Super Cheap Auto

and BCF).

Karen Relph (Engineers Australia) with Peter Tonkin (GHD).

Greg and Deb Kempton (Watpac).

Sunesh Dhir (Department of Planning and Infrastructure), Len Chappell (TCM), Pater Hagan (Engineers Australia) and Greg Sinclair

(Energy Resources of Australia).

Mick and Narelle Crowe (G&S Engineering Services).

Rana Everett (Charles Darwin University) and Luo Mitchell

(Power and Water Corporation).

Kris Vogt and Kevin Gordon (both from Signmanager Group)

with Barry Whiting (Tropical Fabrications), Dinah and Peter

Schuback (Mineral and Mine Mover Transport).

Jamie Penrose (Engineers Australia) and Keven Blake (Aurecon

Consulting Engineers).

Noel Dempsey (Dreamworld) and Alex Zapantis (Rio Tinto Coal

Australia).

Tom Maher (Darwin City Council) and Bronwyn Russell

(Engineers Australia).

Kerry and Joanna Whitacker (GAGAL Apprentices and Trainees).

PHOTOS: Christopher Knight

PHOTOS: Lara Masselos

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22 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateAusIndustry AusIndustry™

Astor Metal Finishes is using $109,650 in Re-tooling for Climate Change funding to deliver electricity savings of more than 50 per cent at its electroplating plant.

Small and medium-sized manufacturers can apply at any time for grants between $10,000 and $500,000 under the Australian Government’s Re-tooling for Climate Change program to help with projects that improve the energy or water effi ciency of their production processes.

Up to half of the cost of each project can be funded for projects of up to 18 months.

Astor managing director Richard Hammond said that fi rm’s project involved installing solar collection tubes on the roof of the main plating shop to heat electroplating process tanks.

A gas-fi red hot water

generator will supplement solar power heating.

“Th is removes the need for mains grid electrical power for heating our tanks,” Mr Hammond said.

Th e project will also conserve power by using insulated pipelines to deliver heated water to either heat exchangers or in-tank coils.

“Th e previous process resulted in lost energy, due to water evaporation,” Mr Hammond said.

Th e new combined solar/gas source will maintain heat in plating tanks, eliminating precipitation of salts when tanks are not in use, thereby reducing maintenance costs.

“Conserving heat allows Astor to maintain hot solutions for plating any type of fi nish at any time,” Mr Hammond said.

“Th is means we’ll have greater

fl exibility in our production and can provide a better service to our customers.

“With this project, Astor is striving to compete with the world leaders in electroplating. Astor has shown it is possible to reverse the tide of products being chrome plated overseas.

“Better heating control and heat transfers will allow us to expand our operations in the future without the need for expensive power substation upgrades.”

Astor’s main business is chrome plating, but it also provides gold, silver, copper, nickel, bronze and antique fi nishes, polishes stainless steel, electro-polishes and wet paints all metals.

Based in the Sydney suburb of Villawood, it employs more than 50 staff members.

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23The Mining Advocate | January 2010 EMISSIONS

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Mackay fi rm Field Engineers is boosting its emissions testing expertise as it prepares for the wave of demand likely to break over industry when the future costs of carbon become clear.

Principal engineer Dave Hartigan said the company planned to establish a laboratory to test samples and was working on its application for accreditation from the National Association of Testing Authorities.

An occupational hygienist with a background in collecting emissions samples is joining the fi rm in January, complementing the analytical abilities of electrical engineer Felix Aditya.

Mr Hartigan said a further three engineers from the fi rm had completed a relevant RMIT

University course about year ago to prepare for the anticipated growth in demand for services related to emissions monitoring and reporting.

Companies were justifi ably holding off any major changes to reduce carbon emissions until a clear framework setting out the cost of carbon emerged, he said.

“At the moment most businesses we are talking to are waiting to see what the outcome of the political situation will be,” Mr Hartigan said.

Th e implementation of an emissions trading scheme would create a market for consultants and advisers similar to the increase seen in safety services in the past 15 years as regulations and enforcement in that area become

Industry is holding off on major work to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions until the goal posts

have been set, says a regional engineering fi rm.

Gearing up for wave of change

more stringent, Mr Hartigan said.Field Engineers already

conducts audits and reports required under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System (NGERS) for companies whose energy use exceeds the threshold level.

“Th e second step we can off er is that if a company fi nds that their emissions are too high and

they would like to reduce them then we can carry out a study on their existing plant to tell them the most eff ective way to reduce carbon – providing bang for their buck,” Mr Hartigan said.

“As mechanical engineers we can oversee and implement that.

“But at the moment, because there’s no teeth to any legislation, it’s unusual for large companies

to bother because there’s no real incentive. “

Mr Hartigan said fi rms were shifting to low-emission technology in some areas, driven in part by high diesel costs.

“We’re already seeing changes from larger AC lighting plants and equipment to smaller, more effi cient DC electrical equipment with things like LED lighting – they are becoming a lot more popular,” he said.

“But to really reduce carbon emissions companies will have to make large changes to their plant design and for that to happen there needs to be a serious framework in place.

“At the moment it’s just the low-hanging fruit, just the easy stuff - using less energy and less fuel and as a direct cost saving.

“Anything requiring big capital outlay, no one is doing it yet and I think no one in their right mind would do it until they know where the goal posts are.”

David Hartigan and Felix Aditya from Field Engineers discuss an exhaust

sampling point for a piece of construction machinery. Photo: Lauren Reed

Unclear guidelines and uncertain policy are creating confusion as mining companies deal with a raft of Federal Government energy and emissions reporting programs, according to NRA Environmental Consultants.

Company director Neil Boland said the group had seen numerous inaccuracies in the way the reporting system for the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) worked.

“Emissions reporting is based on many assumptions, which means one company can be identifi ed as a big polluter under the NPI scheme while another company, which actually produces more emissions, is considered to be a lower polluter as it uses diff erent assumptions when preparing its reports,” Mr Boland said.

“Th ey may not be going into it as thoroughly – and there is no incentive to do so.”

He said there was a need to achieve consistency

across the reporting systems and to clarify the purpose of the data collection.

Th e government has also introduced a National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System (NGERS) to underpin the planned introduction of emissions trading. In 2010 the threshold for registering will drop to 0.35 petajoules.

For those already in the Greenhouse Challenge Plus program, annual reporting is still required.

Mr Boland said all programs required the collection of energy use and emission data across all areas of a company’s operation. NRA was able to help companies identify the programs that applied to them and the most painless way to prepare reports, he said.

“We’re also helping people reduce emissions and energy use and looking at tax incentives, grants and other economic advantages in increasing energy effi ciency,” Mr Boland said.

Need for consistency and clarityConfi rming the commercial viability of new technologies to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions would provide the greatest impetus for

political agreement on a global climate change response, according to

the Queensland Resources Council.

QRC chief executive Michael Roche said the clear message from the

Copenhagen climate summit was deep uncertainty over the economic

and social consequences for countries in moving fi rst to make large cuts

to greenhouse gas emissions.

“Commercially viable electricity generation employing proven carbon

capture and storage (CCS) technologies is the light at the end of the

tunnel,” he said.

Mr Roche said Queensland was in the “box seat” to take a global lead

with two commercial-scale low-emission power plant projects in pre-

feasibility study stage.

“Th e Wandoan Power and ZeroGen projects - coupled with CCS

pilots at Callide and Tarong power stations - show that Queensland and

Australia are serious in rolling out the technological solutions to help

underpin a global political commitment to reducing emissions,” he said.

CCS technology the lightat the end of the tunnel

24 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateIsaac Region

Moranbah off ers a wealth of opportunity not only for mining supply fi rms but those catering to household needs, according to a traders’ representative.

A recent land release meant about 300 new houses were being built in the community – creating extra demand in areas such as landscaping and furnishing, Moranbah Traders Association liaison offi cer Lynnie Busk said.

Th e association, in co-operation with the Isaac Regional Council, hopes to kick off a new campaign in 2010 to attract more businesses to the town.

Th at would include encouraging more operations in the mining service sector and related industry to consider establishing their businesses in Moranbah, Mrs Busk said.

“Why should we have to

source industry from Mackay when Moranbah is big enough to justify having some of these industries itself?” she said.

Mrs Busk and husband Noel have lived in Moranbah for 37 years, having moved to the town from Gladstone just three weeks after their wedding.

“Moranbah was only two years old when we came here - you could virtually call us pioneers now,” she said.

“We have seen it go from bulldust roads in the middle of a few houses up to what we are seeing now - a huge amount of new development and many private houses.

“Th ere are around 11,000 people living in Moranbah, that’s not including the guys in the accommodation villages.”

Noel Busk was one of the fi rst dragline operators at the Peak Downs mine and the couple’s

A surge in housing and booming industry

have created good business openings in

this Bowen Basin coal community.

three sons have all found work in central Queensland mining operations as well.

Mrs Busk conducts town tours for selected BMA employees as well as working for the designated Coal Board Medical doctor for Goonyella Riverside mine and her role with the Moranbah Traders Association.

Th e association boasts 55 members, but Mrs Busk says that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of businesses operating in the area.

Th e town provided a good range of retail chain and speciality stores at the Moranbah Fair Shopping Centre and the Town Square, which was recently refurbished by the Isaac Regional Council at a cost of about $3.5 million, she said.

“Moranbah has a lot to off er those considering establishing a new business. We have a growing population and a boom expected from 2010,” Mrs Busk said.

“Th ere are many growth opportunities here that diff erent investors or entrepreneurs could

take advantage of. I would

suggest that any industry that

opened here servicing the mines

or building would be quite happy

and profi table.”

Positioned halfway between

Emerald and Mackay, Moranbah

off ered proximity to other

thriving mining communities

including Clermont, Dysart,

Middlemount, Glenden and

Nebo, Mrs Busk said.

Isaac Regional Council

released 340 residential blocks

of land for sale by tender in

Moranbah in four stages from

February 2008, with the last 125

allocated to buyers in a land sale

in mid-2009.

Th e council also recently

developed 29 lots in the Pat

Hannay Heavy Industrial Estate,

with the last 16 released for sale

in December.

Moranbah ripe for new enterprise

Moranbah Traders Association liaison offi cer Lynnie Busk. Photo: Erica Smith

25The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Isaac Region

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Cedric Marshall has seen the coal mining communities of the Isaac Regional Council area rise from the dust and fl ourish.

And with his family of four children having grown up in the region, the long-serving local mayor is ideally placed to extol its lifestyle benefi ts for families.

“Th e mining towns are young towns which off er great family lifestyles,” Cr Marshall said.

“Th ey have very good educational facilities up here, a range of medical services and the sporting facilities are excellent.”

While conceding that suitable accommodation remains at a premium throughout the coalfi elds and there will always be mine employees who opt to live on the coast, Cr Marshall is keen to see more families shift to the region.

“Our vision in our corporate plan is to be the region of fi rst choice,” he said.

“We want to have a place that people think of as the place to be.”

A key focus of the plan for council is to promote and enhance the diversity of lifestyle and opportunity within the region – whose boundaries encompass everything from the inland coalfi elds to quiet farming communities and a beach-studded stretch of central Queensland coastline.

Cr Marshall has served in local government since 1991, when he was elected to what was then the Broadsound Shire Council.

He saw becoming involved in local government as an extension of the community work that he and his wife had been involved in since the earliest days of the local mining towns.

His time in offi ce included nine years as deputy mayor and fi ve years as mayor before the Broadsound, Belyando and Nebo Shire Councils amalgamated

The long-serving local mayor can vouch for

the lifestyle benefi ts on off er in the thriving

Isaac area, writes Belinda Humphries.

contract work for the local mines

then being established by the

Utah Development Company.

Cr Marshall said his position

in the earthmoving industry had

seen him involved in building

the new towns of Moranbah,

Dysart, Middlemount, Tieri and

Glenden, which were developed

during the 1970s and ‘80s.

“I remained with civil

construction until 1985, then I

became an employee at Saraji

mine and became a dragline

operator,” Cr Marshall said.

He remained with the mine

until the local government

amalgamation in 2008, with

the mayoral role for the new

regional council being a full-

time position.

Cr Marshall was also able

to realise his childhood

expectations of becoming a

grazier, running some small

cattle holdings during his

mining career.

Cr Marshall and wife Beth

settled in Dysart in 1980.

Of their four children, three

remain in the Bowen Basin area

- with two sons working in the

mining industry and a daughter

married to a miner – while a

third son is in the airforce.

Cr Marshall, who is also

president of the Central

Queensland Local Government

Association, said he hoped to

have a role in the council for

some time to come – if the

voters were agreeable.

He said his focus for the

future included promoting the

diversity and sustainability of the

region, embracing the advances

of modern technology and

lifestyle opportunities for Isaac

residents.

“As for infrastructure and

fi nance, we will continue to

lobby and plan for the core

business responsibilities of

council and maintain sound

fi scal policies,” Cr Marshall said.

“On the planning board we

currently have 26 operating coal

mines with a further 20 leases in

various stages of development.

“Th e stability of our coastal

and rural industries and diversity

of our region will continue to be

an integral part of our planning

for sustainability into the future.”

in March 2008 to form Isaac Regional Council.

Cr Marshall was elected as the fi rst mayor of the new council – a position that has him overseeing an area whose coal mines alone contribute $5.7 billion annually to State and Federal wealth.

Like many in the region, it was the mines that originally drew Cr Marshall to central Queensland.

Raised in Jandowae on the Darling Downs, where his parents ran a dairy farm, Cr Marshall began his working life with the postal service before moving into the road transport industry.

He shifted to Moranbah in 1974 to provide earthmoving

Former dragline operator Cedric

Marshall at a local mine site.

Photo: Erica Smith

● The Isaac Regional Council was formed in 2008 through the

amalgamation of Belyando, Broadsound and Nebo shires.

● It covers an area of 58,682sq km in central Queensland,

stretching about 400km inland from a strip of coast

between Mackay and Rockhampton.

● The towns of Carmila, Clairview, Clermont, Coppabella,

Dysart, Glenden, Middlemount, Moranbah, Nebo and

St Lawrence lie within its boundaries as well as smaller

communities including Clarke Creek, Greenhill, Ilbilbie,

Kilcummin, Mistake Creek, Mackenzie River and Valkyrie.

● The region had an estimated resident population of 21,933

people as at June 2008 - or 0.5 per cent of Queensland’s

population. The region’s population is projected to grow to

34,580 by 2031.

● Isaac accounted for half of the Mackay/Whitsunday region’s

total GRP (Gross Regional Product) of $14.95 billion in

2007/08, with 76.1 per cent of that wealth produced by the

mining sector.

Coal to coast

Opportunity and diversity

26 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateIsaac Region

EconomicpowerhouseThe population of Isaac continues to

punch well above its weight when it

comes to gross regional product fi gures.

Th e Isaac council area is set to maintain its status as the economic powerhouse of the greater Mackay region, with billions of dollars worth of mining projects on the near horizon, according to a peak economic development body.

Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDC) chief executive offi cer Narelle Pearse said annual coal production in the Mackay-Whitsunday region was expected to rise by 38 per cent by 2016, with the bulk of that increase coming from Isaac region coalfi elds.

REDC data shows the Isaac region has more than $13.4 billion worth of mining projects either under study or under construction.

Th ey include the $1 billion Moranbah South underground coal project, the $1.5 billion Clermont open-cut mine, a $1 billion expansion for Goonyella Riverside, a $1 billion expansion for Peak Downs mine, the $4 billion Caval Ridge open-cut mine and the $1 billion Saraji East underground mine proposal, among others.

Ms Pearse said while the

Mackay-Whitsunday region’s

economic base was becoming

more diverse, the Isaac coalfi elds

were still the powerhouse for

growth.

Isaac accounts for about half of

the greater Mackay-Whitsunday

region’s total Gross Regional

Product (GRP), but only 13 per

cent of its population.

“Isaac continues to contribute

heavily towards the region’s

GRP despite having a smaller

population,” Ms Pearse said.

“GRP per head for Isaac is

$340,000 compared to $50,000

per person in Queensland.”

Apart from coal mine

development, other major

projects on the drawing

board for the region include

AGL Energy and Arrow

Energy’s $220 million Central

Queensland Gas Pipeline, to

run between Moranbah and

Gladstone.

Ms Pearse said the

construction of a pipeline

to connect Abbot and Hay

Points to the Bowen Basin and,

eventually, the Cooper Basin at

an estimated cost of $1.5 billion,

was also under study.

Th e St Lawrence Wetlands on Isaac region’s southern coastal fringe provide key habitat for many bird, fi sh and plant species.

Th e wetlands form part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, an essential migratory pathway for birds, and work by Wetlands International - Oceania and Birds Australia - Capricornia has identifi ed an internationally signifi cant number of waterbirds in the area.

Th ey are also an important nursery area for key recreational and commercial fi sh species such as barramundi and mangrove jack.

Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) coastal co-ordinator Shane Westley said the wetlands were important not just as a habitat for plants and animals, but for fi ltering water running across the catchment.

“Wetlands act a bit like kidneys fi ltering impurities in the system, and this is why they are critical for healthy waterways,” Mr Westley said.

“Wetland health provides an indication of the health of the ecosystem as a whole. Th ey

play a vital role in ensuring the environment is functioning properly.”

Th e area has recently been receiving some much-deserved attention according to Isaac Regional Council community services manager Jennifer Clark.

Projects completed by the FBA and Fitzroy River Coastal Catchment (FRCC) in the past two years have included installing fi sh ladders and interpretive signage, production of 1000 informational brochures on the St Lawrence Wetlands and the construction of a walkway and viewing platform.

Ms Clark said the organisations had also organised St Lawrence Wetlands Discovery Day events in 2008 and 2009.

She said Isaac Regional Council was hoping to build on the achievements of those organisations and was now actively working with the St Lawrence community to:

• educate local residents, visitors and tourists on the importance, value and ecology of the St Lawrence Wetlands,

• establish a volunteer group

in St Lawrence to support the

work being done there,

• promote community

involvement in the maintenance

and promotion of this natural

asset,

• establish the St Lawrence

Wetlands as an eco-tourism

destination, and

• celebrate the St Lawrence

Wetlands each year by

hosting a community event

to showcase the area and the

work accomplished by the local

community in conjunction

with Wetlands International

– Oceania, Birds Australia –

Capricornia, the FBA, FRCC

and Queensland Department of

Primary Industries.

Ms Clark said there were free

camping facilities available at

the St Lawrence Recreation

Grounds for people wishing to

stay a day or two and enjoy the

beauty of the area.

“Visitors will fi nd the

amenities are clean and well

maintained,” she said.

“Hot showers are off ered for a

gold coin donation.”

Magpie geese fl ock to the St Lawrence Wetlands.

Wetlands host a wealth of wildlife

“Come and give it a go.”Th at is newcomer Kim Bont’s advice to families who

have yet to discover what the Clermont district has to off er, with her own relatives among those she has encouraged to make the move.

Th e former teacher’s aide moved to the area from Bundaberg in September 2008 to manage the Th eresa Creek Dam recreational facilities along with husband Peter and their three boys.

Th e decision to leave Bundaberg, where the family had settled on a 12ha property near Mrs Bont’s parents, came like a bolt from the blue.

“Peter had been working in Clermont for two weeks at a time at a work camp when he heard the (dam caretaker) job was coming up and mentioned it on the phone one day, thinking that it would be a good job for my dad,” Mrs Bont said.

“I put the phone down and thought ‘oh my God,

that’s my job’. It just hit me in the face – this is what we have to do as a family to be together.”

Mrs Bont said the location, just 20km from Clermont, had proved ideal for sons Brayden, 16, Kurtys, 13, and Joel, 9.

“If we said we were moving back to Bundaberg they’d be devastated,” she said.

“Th ey have a great network of friends. Th ey’re involved in local sport, they water ski - what’s not to like?”

She laughingly adds that the move has also guaranteed the boys a weekend job - replacing toilet rolls and helping out at the on-site shop.

Th e Bonts have made improvements to the dam’s camping area and installed a kiosk, with funding from Isaac Regional Council, since taking over as caretakers at the spot.

Th ey are involved in the local Dolphins swimming

club and Mr Bont coaches junior football in town.Mrs Bont described Clermont as a good community

with many supportive people.“If you have a job opportunity here, like at the mines,

then don’t hesitate - it’s wonderful,” she said.

Bont family laps up lakeside lifestyle near Clermont

Kim and Peter Bont at the dam kiosk.

The Theresa Creek Dam outside Clermont.

27The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Isaac Region

In a small foundry on the Fort Cooper cattle station outside Nebo, Kay Paton painstakingly molds her vision of country life.

After 11 years as station cook, Mrs Paton was able to give up that job in early 2009 and concentrate full-time on her bronze sculpting.

She has since fi nished two major works – a life-size statue of local identity “Snow” Burgess and a large santa gertrudis bull for the Longreach launch of the book Beef Cattle Australia by Russell Reed.

When not working on commissioned pieces, including trophies, Mrs Paton said she enjoyed creating art that told a story refl ecting rural Australia.

Her interest in bronze sculpture was sparked by her introduction to Frederic Remington’s Western-themed pieces during a visit to the United State as a 17-year-old exchange student.

“Th e thing that really took

my fancy with the Frederic Remington pieces was each piece depicted a story - you could see what had just happened and what was about to happen,” she said.

“Th at’s what I endeavour to create.”

Her expertise has evolved from “mucking about” with wax and clay, to researching casting processes and fi nally, in 2000, being in a position to start casting her own work.

“It has gone from there,” Mrs Paton said.

“Now I can do bigger pieces.“I have a little shed out the

back of the house where I do the casting and I have had a studio built this year.”

While living in regional Queensland is a signifi cant disadvantage when it comes to the cost of transporting specialist materials and equipment from the major cities, Mrs Paton is fi rmly attached to the lifestyle the

Former station cook Kay Paton endeavours

to capture the stories of rural Australia in her

bronze creations, writes Belinda Humphries.

Country life inspires artist

Nebo area off ers. She has lived

in the region for most of her

life and - along with husband

Trevor, head stockman on Fort Cooper, and their two sons - enjoys horse sports and being part of the cattle industry.

“We’re all very involved with our horses, we are keen camp drafters and our sons are keen rodeo competitors,” Mrs Paton said.

Rio Tinto Coal Australia’s Hail Creek mine dominates one of the “bullock paddocks” on Fort Cooper.

And while Mrs Paton bemoans the loss of the beautiful undulating pasture land that once lay there, she says the increase in mining activity in the region has also

brought benefi ts for rural

families.

“My son Mitchel (19) is

a second-year boilermaking

apprentice at Macmahons in

Nebo,” she said.

“Justin (17) has just fi nished

school at St Brendan’s

College and is looking for

apprenticeship now.

“Th at’s the benefi t the mining

industry brings to our area - our

children can get apprenticeships

and still be in this area, whereas

previously they would have had

to go to Mackay, Rockhampton

or further afi eld.”

The recently completed statue of

Nebo identity “Snow” Burgess.

Barry Dunn with more than 3kg of nuggets discovered locally by fossickers.

Th ousands of people from

throughout Australia and overseas

fl ock to Clermont each year to

unearth some of the historic

town’s hidden delights.

It is the prospect of taking

home a gold nugget like the 6oz

specimen discovered by a Mildura

man last year that lures fossickers

to Clermont.

But the community has other

shining qualities that ensure many

visitors return time and again.

Just ask Olga Dunn who,

with husband Barry, runs the

Clermont Detectors business – as

much a social hub for fossickers

as a source of practical supplies

and advice.

“Th e ones that keep coming

back do other things while they

are here,” Mrs Dunn said.

“Th ey go fi shing for barra and

red claw at Th eresa Creek Dam.

Th ey go golfi ng with the locals.

Some of the girls have craft,

quilting, arts and writers’ groups.

“I think what most people

like about Clermont is that it’s a

friendly town. Th ere are no traffi c

lights...and the caravan park is

about a 10-minute walk down the

street, so if the boys go to the pub

they can roll down the hill home,”

she laughed.

Prospecting on the Clermont

goldfi elds or the nearby gem

fi elds of Anakie was particularly

appealing to retirees, she said.

Mr and Mrs Dunn bought

Clermont Detectors, located

within the Clermont Caravan

Park, in August 2002 following

two extended gold prospecting

holidays in the community.

“We just love it,” Mrs Dunn

said.

“What got me was the

beautiful sunfl owers either side

of the road going into Clermont

from Emerald - so welcoming.

“My Dad used to grow

sunfl owers. I thought it was a

good omen.”

Among the highlights on the

local calendar is the Clermont

Gold and Coal Festival, held in

the third week of August each

year.

Other attractions for visitors

to Clermont include the

nearby Copperfi eld ghost town,

Clermont Museum and twice

weekly tours of the Blair Athol

coal mine.

Visitors treasure town’s charm

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We remember Moura No. 2 Explosion, 19947 August 2009

On 7 August, 1994, an explosion claimed the lives of 11 night shiftworkers at the Moura No. 2 Mine in Central Queensland. Those whodied were John Dullahide, 44, Darrell Hogarth, 46, David King, 24,Geoffrey Mazzer, 45, Mark Nelson, 36, Robert Newton, 39, RobertParker, 39, Chris Ritchie, 27, Michael Ryan, 31, Michael Shaw, 27, andTerry Vivian, 49.

The men who died were working 265 metres underground and threekilometres from the mine entrance.

A subsequent formal inquiry into the loss of life said managementhad not taken adequate steps to inform Moura workers of risks ofexplosion and had made no attempt to keep miners out of the mine.The report of the inquiry said management assuptions on safetyrepresented a passage of management neglect "which must never berepeated in the coal mining industry."

The CFMEU is lobbying to maintain Industry Specific Legislation, toensure disasters like this never happen again.

In 13 incidents since 1961, 47 lives have been lost in the Moura-Kianga coal fields. The largest of these were Kianga No. 1 in 1975(13 lives), Moura No. 4 in 1986 (12 lives) and Moura No. 2 in 1994(11 lives).

29The Mining Advocate | January 2010

Steve Smyth sees himself as a straight-talking union man with a leadership style that will keep him fi rmly connected with members at grassroots level.

Mr Smyth recently took the reins of the Queensland mining and energy division of the CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union), replacing Greg Betts as district president.

His election represents another chapter in the coal community of Collinsville’s long-running prominence in the union movement – with previous CFMEU leaders from that town including Mr Betts and former national secretary John Maitland.

Mr Smyth said he planned to be a “hands-on sort of president” who would spend more time with the mining workforce.

“I don’t want people to think ‘that’s the president, we can’t relate to him’,” Mr Smyth said.

“It’s a great honour to be the president of the union and I want to deliver for those guys.”

He said accountability and honesty were also important to him, even if it meant giving people answers they did not like.

Mr Smyth counts several generations of miners on his family tree, including his father Allan Smyth. His mother, Denise, is one of the well-known Collinsville clan, the Brunkers.

While he always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps at the local coal mine, Mr Smyth had to bide his time as a young school leaver.

He started an apprenticeship at a local butcher shop at 16, then took a job in a garden shed factory in Perth before returning to Collinsville to work at the

Isaac Regional Council recently brought industry, government, unions and community groups together to discuss the challenges associated with industry impacts on Moranbah’s amenity and liveability.

Th irty-two representatives from Queensland Health, the combined unions, the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), the Department of Employment and Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), the Department of Infrastructure and Planning (DIP), Central Queensland University, Anglo Coal, BMA, Macarthur Coal, Vale and the council attended the workshop.

An increase in dust from a range

of sources, including future mining

developments, was raised as a major

concern of Moranbah residents and by

stakeholders at the workshop.

Isaac Mayor Cedric Marshall said

the workshop was council’s way of

bringing all parties together for a pro-

community/pro-industry discussion.

A working group will be established

to continue discussions and formulate

strategies assisting in the management

of dust and other cumulative impacts to

ensure the sustainability and health of

the community.

Council will be calling for

expressions of interest from key

community and industry groups in the

near future.

T 1800 659 114 F 07 3229 9842 E [email protected] W www.hallpayne.com.au ts

_hp

_04

4

Work accident claims Motor vehicle

accident claims Family law Estate law Conveyancing

YOUR UNION YOUR LAWYER

Isaac tackles industry impact

The CFMEU’s new Collinsville-bred boss has

plans to take the presidency closer to the

coalface, writes Belinda Humphries.

New district president Stephen Smyth at the CFMEU Mining and Energy Brisbane offi ce. Photo: Fiona Harding

He was elected as a permanent mine inspector for the CFMEU in 2002.

“(Th e job) involved dealing with day-to-day safety complaints and investigating accidents and fatalities, dealing with the companies at a corporate level in relation to health and safety matters at the mines and generally looking after the members when they had concerns of a health and safety nature,” Mr Smyth said.

He said he had enjoyed the job, as he felt it gave him the chance to make a diff erence.

Having worked with some of the men whose deaths or injury he later came to investigate had further driven home the importance of improving safety in the industry.

“It makes you more determined. If you’re in a position to do something, that

makes you passionate about it,” Mr Smyth said.

He believes there is still much room for improvement.

“While it’s good that people have visions of zero harm, we need to focus on what’s actually happening at the moment and be fair dinkum about engaging the workforce,” Mr Smyth said.

“You can have corporate policies, but at the end of the day you need to get back to grass roots.”

Mr Smyth said he was looking forward to the challenges of his new role – which he described as encompassing everything from wages and conditions to health and safety and the general welfare of coal mining communities.

“Th ese coal mining communities have generated billions and billions of dollars for our economies and provided

jobs for many families,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s enough

going into these communities

from the larger companies that

work out of them.”

Housing availability was a

prime example and an area

where the union would continue

to campaign strongly, Mr Smyth

said.

Mr Smyth lives in Mackay

with wife Kim and they have

three children – Th omas, 17,

Cortney, 14, and Raylene, 13.

He said his job would be

impossible to do without good

family support.

Mr Smyth plans to maintain

Mackay as his home base rather

than moving to Brisbane for his

new role, and said he had used

that fact as a selling point in the

recent election.

mines, fi rst as a contractor and

then as a full-time underground

miner, when he turned 18.

“I wasn’t a big fan of school,”

Mr Smyth said.

“I wanted to get out and the

fi rst opportunity that came

along was at the butcher shop.

“But I always had the

ambition to be a miner. I had

my name down at the mines

and, as the son of a miner, I had

a good chance of getting on –

they looked after the people in

the community. But I had to

wait until I could get a start.”

He has since worked at coal

mines including Laleham (south

Blackwater), the Cook Colliery

(Blackwater) and Southern

Colliery (Middlemount).

Th at mining career has

included roles ranging from

underground miner to mine

deputy and check inspector.

Mr Smyth took his fi rst full-

time union role in 2000, when

he was elected as a fi ll-in district

mine inspector.

He had been over the moon

to gain the position, Mr Smyth

said, as he had always been keen

to be involved in union work.

“Growing up in Collinsville,

being a pretty strong union

town, and with my family being

involved in the union – I lived

and breathed it,” he said.

“When you’re in that

environment it infl uences the

way you go about your life.”

“It’s a great honour to be

the president of the union

and I want to deliver for

those guys.”

Hands-on approach for Smyth Building Mining Communities

30 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateBuilding Mining Communities

Taking a second-hand Cortina and turning it into a drag-racing standout with more than 660 horsepower at the wheels is the sort of pastime that becomes a full-on passion for enthusiasts like Jason Earl.

Mr Earl is president of the Clermont Motoring Club and has collected numerous trophies in burnout competitions and speed trials with his lovingly modifi ed machines.

Th e 33-year-old father of two, who works as an electrical maintainer at the Blair Athol coal mine, said he had inherited his love of cars from his father and was now seeing his own children follow suit.

Mr Earl said his very fi rst car

Th e Clermont Motoring Club will be fundraising this year in a bid to build a burnout pad and driver training track for the area.

Club president Jason Earl said the group was negotiating to build the facility at the local motorcycle club grounds.

“We’re looking at a rather large burnout

pad, 17m sq with a 24m by 4m straight

coming on to it which we would utilise for

driver training as well,” he said.

“We want to allow young people to trial

their cars and learn how to handle them

without being out on the road upsetting

the policeman.”

Th e club is also hoping to host its

second Clermont Motor Muster in

September this year following the

success of the inaugural event in 2008.

Mr Earl said the Clermont club had

been well supported by other regional

car clubs for that event as well as other

community groups.

Th e group aimed to give as much as

possible back to the local community,

he said.

“At our Australia Day celebrations

in Clermont last year, the Clermont

Motoring Club made a donation of

$2000 to Monash Lodge - which is

Clermont’s home for the elderly -

from the proceeds of the 2008 Motor

Muster,” Mr Earl said.

Th e Clermont Motoring Club,

which was started in September

2007, runs regular events for

members including cruises to

various locations, barbecues and

“show and shines”.

Mr Earl said the club had about 20

members, with some of those being

family memberships

“We have many interests amongst the

group including drag cars, classic cars,

hot rods, late model cars, muscle cars,

motorbikes and even ski boats and jet

skis,” he said.

“Th e ages of our members vary from

as young as 18 up to retirement age - so

there really is a good mix of experience and

keenness and enthusiasm. We have members

from Clermont as well as Capella, Moranbah

and Townsville.”

People interested in joining the club can

email [email protected],

write to the Clermont Motoring Club at 40

Monash St, Clermont, Queensland - 4721 or

phone Mr Earl on 0438 090576.

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Clermont’s Jason Earl inherited a love of cars from his

father and is now seeing his own kids follow suit.

had been a Datsun 1200 sedan which he learnt to drive in.

“After that I purchased a Datsun 1600 sedan and a good friend of mine was doing an apprenticeship as an engine machinist at the time, so we decided that we might try a few things and my fi rst quick car went from there. It was at this point, when I was just 17, that I went to try drag racing for the fi rst time and I’ve been hooked since then.”

Mr Earl said the fi rst car he had completely rebuilt himself was a 1974 Toyota Celica, which won him many trophies in burnout competitions in Emerald, Bundaberg and the Benaraby Raceway near Gladstone.

Since then, his interest has turned to V8 cars such as his two latest “toys” - a Ford TF Cortina full chassis drag car and an XE Ford Fairmont Ghia.

Th e Cortina had carded 8.86 seconds at 154 miles per hour (248km/h) in Mackay last July, Mr Earl said. Th e times it had achieved indicated more than 660 horsepower at the wheels.

“My favourite, however is my 1982 XE Ford Fairmont Ghia which I bought a few years ago as a bare shell and have gradually developed from there to what it is now,” Mr Earl said.

“It is fi tted with a 383 cubic inch small-block Cleveland V8 with alloy heads and was all put together by me at home in the shed and is making 434 horsepower at the rear wheels.

“It is also fi tted with a Ford nine-inch diff and a C4 gearbox built by CTP Race Transmissions in Mackay. It is fi tted with a fully reupholstered interior and has a roll cage and race seats fi tted as well as a big loud stereo.”

He said he had recorded 10.88secs at 125 miles per hour (201km/h) over the quarter mile at the Townsville dragway in the car in May last year.

Mr Earl said his wife Kim had been very supportive of his hobby, including “helping out in the shed” when needed.

Meanwhile, the couple’s 13-year-old daughter Cheyanne has enjoyed success in racing a junior dragster and younger brother Connor, 6, is also keen to hit the track.

“Kids can start racing as young as eight years old, but there are limitations on speed and times they are allowed to run for the diff erent age levels,” Mr Earl said.

“Cheyanne already has more trophies for drag racing than Dad and she doesn’t let me forget it.”

After a year in which Cheyanne had attended 10 events throughout Queensland and only once missed making the fi nals, Mr Earl said he had decided to sell his Cortina to buy her a new junior dragster for Christmas.

“It was a bit sad, but I’ve had my bit of fun with it and I still have my red car,” he said.

“Th ere was a big smile on her face as soon as she walked out the door on Christmas day and saw it – it was a good surprise.”

Club bid to build burnout pad

Get your motor

runnin’...

Jason EarlClermont Motoring Club president

Jason Earl’s Ford TF Cortina.

The rebuilt XE Ford Fairmont Ghia.

Cheyanne’s new junior dragster.

31The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Building Mining Communities

Th e Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation is receiving a $30,000 boost thanks to the eff orts of CFMEU mining and energy division employee Tahlia Mills, along with many of her colleagues and supporters.

Ms Mills organised the “Steps 4 Smiles” fundraising event in December to assist the Brisbane hospital, with a particular focus on its Rural Family Support service.

“It was very successful and a very good day,” Ms Mills said.

About 80 people had joined the 10km “Steps 4 Smiles” walk from the Roma Street Parklands to the Royal Children’s Hospital and back, she said. Th e majority were CFMEU offi cials and members.

Ms Mills said the event had raised about $1500 on the day from raffl es and food and drink sales. Th is was in addition to the funds collected in registration fees, walk sponsorship and general donations.

Ms Mills said a number of CFMEU lodges had pledged money for the cause, as had some fi rms with regular dealings with the union, such as Hall Payne Lawyers and Cerbros Brokers as well as Metro Ford in Brisbane.

While Ms Mills had set a fundraising goal of $50,000, she said she was happy with the fi nal tally considering it was the fi rst time Steps 4 Smiles had been held.

She believed the heat may have deterred some would-be walkers and noted that the timing could have been better, considering the event was held the morning after the offi ce Christmas party.

Th e 23-year-old said she was still keen to make Steps 4 Smiles an annual event.

Ms Mills, who is recovering from recent knee surgery, was forced to sit out the event herself after she suff ered some swelling to her leg and was unable to secure a wheelchair as planned.

The organiser of a fundraising event to help

sick kids and their families plans to repeat the

eff ort after receiving strong support.

All smiles as fun walk lifts off

Steps 4 Smiles organiser Tahlia Mills (centre) celebrates the success of the fundraising walk along with participants

Renee Stoddart and Lara Watson. Photo: Davey Rintala

Blackwater residents, with support from BMA, have donated a full shipping container of clothes, books and bicycles for the underprivileged living in the South African capital of Johannesburg.

Working in partnership with SIRVA Relocation, Allied Pickfords organised for the container to be shipped to Johannesburg to the

BHP Billiton South Africa head offi ce to allow the donated items to be distributed to charities and non-profi t organisations.

Blackwater Mine general manager Steve Badenhorst said he was very pleased with the support shown by the local community.

“Filling a shipping container – wow that’s just great,” Mr Badenhorst said.

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33The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Building Mining Communities

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Charity by the truckload

Becoming known near and far as “the guy with the big pink truck” may take a bit of getting used to for Moranbah’s Derran Hornery.

But that recognition is a sure sign of how much the family-run Hornery Trading Group has achieved in raising cancer awareness and funds thanks to a Kenworth truck with 600hp under the bonnet and a paint job that would not look amiss in Barbie’s dream house.

Th e business bought the truck just months after Derran’s younger brother Lachlan lost his battle with cancer. It then underwent extensive custom detailing work including being emblazoned with Lymphoma Australia feather symbols.

For every hour that local mining fi rms and other operations hire the pink water truck, $20 goes to the Royal Brisbane Hospital Foundation for cancer research, awareness and prevention work as well as assisting the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

“Every cent we give them goes towards cancer – there are no administrative fees or anything,” Mr Hornery said.

Th e big pink truck has raised about $13,000 since starting such work in late October. It has also gone on show at events such as the Moranbah Relay for Life and the Mackay Convoy for Kids to raise community awareness on cancer, particularly lymphoma - a cancer of the lymph cells, .

It’s an eff ort Mr Hornery feels would have made Lachlan proud.

“My brother Lachlan Hornery

was 37 when we lost him to lymphoma cancer in October 2008,” Mr Hornery said.

“He left behind fi ve kids, all under 11.

“It was a hard time for the family and we spent a lot of time down there in the intensive care unit at the hospital in Brisbane experiencing the suff ering of the patients and their families.”

While in hospital, Lachlan particularly appreciated the eff orts of the nursing staff and had often spoken of assisting in some way if he beat the disease.

“He was a horseman and a cowboy, running rodeos and roping shows,” Mr Hornery said.

“He would have contributed another way, by running that sort of event. But this is defi nitely down his alley – exactly what he would have wanted.”

Th e Hornery Trading Group runs a fl eet of 30 water trucks out of Moranbah under the business name Hornery Water and Transport.

Its work is centred on the local gasfi elds and coal mines as well as civil road construction projects.

Th e group also runs a pump hire business and is involved in the beef industry.

Th e big pink truck, known as the 4ULOC cancer unit, is a tri-drive twin-steer 10-wheeler Kenworth capable of carrying 24,000 litres of water.

Mr Hornery said the truck was currently engaged in a long-term job for Bowen Central Coal Management – the Aquila Resources-Vale joint venture behind the Eagle Downs project.

A family business has developed an innovative

means of raising awareness and funds for

cancer-related causes after a personal tragedy.

Th e 4ULOC unit received a

good reaction from the public, Mr

Hornery said.

“People read my name on the

back of the shirt and say ‘hey,

you’re the guy with the big pink

truck’,” he said.

“Everybody knows it – it has

done its job in terms of raising

awareness.”

Mr Hornery said the family

business supported various local

community groups and he had, in

the past, considered nominating

diff erent groups to receive a small

percentage of monies raised from

a number of the fi rm’s trucks.

But the experience of Lachlan’s

battle with lymphoma - and the

pain of seeing fi ve small children

left to grow up without their

father - had prompted him to

direct the eff orts towards one

cause.

“When somebody close to you

gets a terminal disease – that

changes your whole outlook and

attitude,” Mr Hornery said.

“You ask ‘why can’t they fi nd a

cure?’. Every bit helps.”

His father, Percy Hornery, said

the family hoped the 4ULOC

cancer unit would inspire other

companies to become innovative

and give a small percentage

of their profi ts to help make

a diff erence for sick and less

fortunate people. “A small

percentage of their profi ts will

not aff ect their own lifestyle nor

business success,” he said.

Derran Hornery

with the 4ULOC

cancer unit.

Photo: Erica Smith

34 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocateBuilding Mining Communities

resourcingg thee future

Mining

Supporting

Communities

BROUGHT

TO YOU BY

Th e safety messages of an award-winning spinal injury prevention

program are reaching more children thanks to funding from BHP

Billiton Cannington Mine.

A $125,000 donation from the north-west Queensland mine this

fi nancial year allowed the Spinal Education Awareness Team (SEAT)

to off er the program for free throughout Queensland’s schools, with

bookings skyrocketing as a result.

And the mine recently made a commitment to support the SEAT

program for three more years at $150,000 per year, Spinal Injuries

Association executive manager for fundraising and communications,

Carol Haff ke, said.

“Th is will ensure that SEAT sessions will continue to be off ered

at no cost to schools around Queensland and northern New South

Wales for the foreseeable future and is a huge testimony to the mine’s

dedication and commitment to safety and injury prevention,” Ms

Haff ke said.

BHP Billiton Cannington asset leader Bob Fulker said the

operation had a long-running relationship with the Spinal Injuries

Association.

“Seeing how much impact the SEAT program is having across the

state reinforces the value of our relationship,” he said.

SEAT has been operating as a service of the Spinal Injuries

Association for 22 years, sharing safety messages with almost 1.3

million children around Queensland.

In that time Queensland has gone from the state with the highest

rate of spinal cord injuries to the state with the second lowest rate,

according to Spinal Injuries Association chief executive offi cer Mark

Henley.

“Th e more children our presenters can reach out to with their

personal and very powerful stories, the better our chance to further

reducing injuries that will have a lifetime of consequences,” Mr

Henley said.

He said the group was on track to achieve its target of speaking to

more than 100,000 school students this fi nancial year.

“With BHP Billiton Cannington Mine’s generous support as a

major sponsor of SEAT, along with our other sponsors, we can for the

fi rst time in nearly 20 years off er the program at no cost to schools,” he

said.

“Th e feedback we have received from teachers and principals,

especially at small schools in regional and remote areas, is that they

could never aff ord the program in the past even though we only

charged $1 per child.

“Now that SEAT is at no cost for this fi nancial year, we can barely

keep up with demand.”

Mr Henley said 16,645 children viewed the program in October last

year compared to 8885 in October 2008, for example.

“Th at’s an 87 per cent increase in just one month and I hope that

BHP Billiton Cannington Mine staff and management are incredibly

proud of what they are helping us to achieve,” he said.

Cannington mine has made an ongoing cash

commitment to help get a crucial message

out into schools, writes Belinda Humphries.

Backing for spinal safety initiative

SEAT presenter Scott Stidston speaks with students at Canossa Catholic

Primary School in Trebonne, North Queensland. Photo: Ashley Roach

About 65 people joined Ernest

Henry Mining’s community

information session at the

Cloncurry Shire Hall in

December for an update on the

operation, including Xstrata’s

$589 million plans to extend

the life of the mine through

underground mining and

magnetite extraction.

Xstrata Copper - Ernest

Henry Mining (EHM) senior

community relations advisor

Vicki Wilson said the operation

held two such community

information sessions each year

to provide the public with

information on the operation

and the opportunity to raise

questions or concerns.

“Our community information

sessions are one of a number of

community engagement forums

we hold annually,” she said.

Th e operation held its fi rst

open day in October 2009 –

attracting about 160 people

from Mount Isa, Cloncurry and

Julia Creek to the site.

“We were pleased to have so

many people in attendance at

our open day and we received

some great feedback that will

help us to make (the 2010)

event even better,” Ms Wilson

said.

EHM also organises a

“neighbours day” each year

providing nearby landholders

with the opportunity to visit

and receive an update on the

EHM operation.

Th e 14 pastoralists who

attended recently were taken on

a trip through the concentrator,

to dispatch to see the open pit

and to a number of locations

on site to view improvements

to stormwater management

infrastructure.

Ernest Henry Mining

taking it to the people

BMA has provided $15,000 for the purchase of high-low beds and pressure-relieving devices for elderly patients at Moranbah Hospital.

Th e donation was partially funded by profi ts from BMA’s Eureka Accommodation Village wet mess.

BMA Goonyella Riverside Mine general manager Steve Rae said the company was pleased to provide assistance to community organisations and facilities.

“It is a great initiative to donate the money made by the wet mess at the Eureka Accommodation Village back into our community for important equipment such as this,” he said.

BMA also recently donated an additional $5500 to the hospital through Clayton’s Cup funds and money raised at the BMA Inter-mine Golf Day.

Rio Tinto Coal Australia

has donated $10,000 to

boost Cancer Council

Queensland’s annual

Christmas appeal.

Th e gift adds to signifi cant

fundraising eff orts by

employees at the company’s

Hail Creek, Kestrel, Blair

Athol and Clermont mines

during 2009.

Th ese included a $5000

donation from Hail Creek

mine towards the “Mackay

Room”, part of a new Cancer

Council Queensland hospice

being built in Townsville.

Th is donation was to

a charity of the mine

workforce’s choice following

their achievement of

reaching a signifi cant safety

milestone

Cancer Council

Queensland chief executive

offi cer Professor Jeff Dunn

said the generosity of RTCA

and its staff would help the

cancer council to expand

its services in regional

Queensland in 2010 and

beyond.

“Th is year, with the help

of RTCA and its people,

we opened the Central

Queensland Cancer Support

Centre in Rockhampton,

giving people from outlying

regions vital access to cancer

treatment services and

support,” he said.

Cancer coff ers topped up

Comfort

for elderly

35The Mining Advocate | January 2010 Port of Townsville

Phone:(02) 9821 2244

Fax: 61 2 9821 2906

29 Shepherd Street

Liverpool NSW

Australia, 2170

Email:[email protected]

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Port of Townsville Limited has recently produced a development plan to provide current and future customers, stakeholders and the community with guidance on the vision for the Port of Townsville to 2040.

Th e plan outlines proposed short, medium and long-term developments needed to accommodate forecast trade growth in a timely and sustainable manner.

Located on the shoreline of tropical North Queensland, adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the Port of Townsville is a world-class gateway for global trade and investment.

Th e port, which manages about 10 million tonnes of cargo each year, is one of the world’s most diverse base metals export locations and is also Australia’s largest exporter of raw sugar and molasses.

It is critical to the regional economy as it is the most effi cient link between the mineral

provinces and their national and international markets.

Trade at the Port of Townsville is forecast to increase to more than 30 million tonnes in the next 25 years.

Th e Port Development Plan (PDP) outlines Port of Townsville Limited’s (POTL’s) vision for the facility’s developments until 2040 to accommodate projected growth in existing business and new trade prospects.

It is the product of ongoing port planning processes which involve consultation with key stakeholders including the Queensland Treasury, Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning, Department of Transport and Main Roads, QR Limited, Townsville City Council and port users.

Th e plan is regularly updated to refl ect signifi cant changes to key assumptions and development options and refl ects recent planning initiatives, in particular the Townsville Port Master Plan, Land Use Plan, City-Port

The corporation managing Townsville’s port

is preparing to meet a forecast three-fold

increase in cargo over the next 25 years.

Future bright for trade gateway

Strategic Plan, Townsville State Development Area and Eastern Access Corridor Planning.

POTL’s vision is to be a leader in the provision of innovative, effi cient and eff ective port services which it strives to accomplish by:

• acting commercially and competitively to promote a sustainable economic future for the port,

• providing best-practice facilities and services to meet the needs of existing and future customers,

• identifying and securing

commercial opportunities,• delivering critical

infrastructure to ensure timely and sustainable development of the port,

• maximising utilisation of existing resources, and

• enhancing environmental performance in all aspects of the corporation’s operations.

POTL has embarked on a campaign to increase and diversify trade and improve the fl exibility of critical infrastructure to support this vision.

Th is will enable the port to be

a driver of sustainable growth in

the region through the delivery

of trade, port services and

development solutions while

obtaining better utilisation and

effi ciencies from existing port

infrastructure.

Copies of the Port of

Townsville’s Port Development

Plan can be obtained by

contacting POTL’s business

development team on (07) 4781

1500 or info@townsville-port.

com.au.

MV Voge Renate enters the Port of Townsville at dawn. Photo: Cameron Laird

36 January 2010 | The Mining AdvocatePort of Townsville

Expansion project under study

Detailed investigations have commenced into a proposed major expansion of the Port of Townsville.

Th is will include the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project.

Th e EIS will cover a proposal

to reclaim in several stages up to 100ha of seabed to the north of the port over the next 25 years.

Th e staged expansion would provide the port with an additional seven berths and enough land to meet future operational demand.

Th is will boost the import

A staged reclamation of up to 100ha of seabed

is among the steps under consideration to

help meet future port demand.

and export capacity from 10

million tonnes a year to as high

as 30 million tonnes per year.

Th e EIS is expected to take

two years to complete and

will involve several stages of

approvals by the State and

Federal governments.

Th e preparation of the EIS

will include an extensive public

consultation period during

which the community will be

given opportunities to provide

feedback and comment.

Port of Townsville chief

executive offi cer Barry Holden

said the Port of Townsville was

instrumental in driving the

North Queensland economy

and planning for the future was

a top priority.

“Th is is a very long-term

project and we are only in the

early days of assessing the

environmental, economic and

social impacts of the proposal,”

Mr Holden said.

“Th ere are many factors that

need to be considered but

we will take every possible

measure to fi nd a sustainable

and responsible outcome for

the region and port users.

“Th is project, from planning

through to construction and

future operations, will create

thousands of local jobs.”

Mr Holden said the port had

been running at near capacity

for the past decade and that

expansion of existing trade

and new trade would trigger

construction for each stage of

the expansion.

Port of Townsville Limited (POTL) is committed to sustainable

planning and development of port lands to promote the economic

growth of the facility and ensure effi cient services while integrating

with and enhancing the surrounding community.

Th e corporation seeks to achieve this objective by

• regularly assessing market conditions and providing port

infrastructure that meets future growth demand;

• optimising the use of land and infrastructure;

• ensuring transport connectivity is protected;

• ensuring sustainable management of resources;

• providing leadership in environmental protection; and

• ensuring that impacts on adjoining land uses are appropriately

managed and minimised.

POTL manages a land and sea jurisdiction of more than 400sq km,

including more than 200ha of land that has been developed for port

operations.

Extensive master planning demonstrates a requirement for more

than 100ha of new land to be created over the next 25 years to meet

forecast trade growth.

Th e Eastern Reclamation Area within the secured port area

commenced construction in the 1980s and is nearing completion.

Two corridors for future rail loops have been set aside. Th ese are

proposed to connect into the existing rail network in the interim and

are in the future proposed to connect into the Eastern Access Corridor

rail network.

Th e land is available now for proponents wishing to establish bulk

receival, storage and out-loading facilities.

Nexus Business Park comprises about 12ha of strategic port land

located outside the secured port area, adjacent to the start of the future

Townsville Port Access Road.

About 5ha of land remains available to port-related business which

can enhance economic activity through the port.

Lot sizes range from 0.6 to 2ha, with all lots serviced by sealed road

access and utilities.

For further information regarding the land availability at the Port of

Townsville contact the business development team on (07) 4781 1500

or [email protected].

Land available for

development

Cruise ship The World leaving the Port of Townsville in December 2009. Photo: Cameron Laird

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh recently announced the State Government had committed $30 million to the construction of the Townsville Ocean Terminal.

Th e new Berth 10 facility has been given the green light without the residential component as previously planned.

Ms Bligh said the proposed residential development simply did not stack up.

She said also the project would require a

contribution from the Townsville City Council of approximately $20-30 million and $30 million from the Australian Defence Force.

Port of Townsville chief executive offi cer Barry Holden welcomed the announcement from Premier Bligh.

“Th e Townsville Ocean Terminal is a positive development which will give extra fl exibility and capability to accommodate cruise and military vessels,” Mr Holden said.

Green light for ocean terminal

In a bid to boost effi ciencies and capability of infrastructure at the Port of Townsville, an upgrade for the Berth 8 facility has been earmarked for the very near future.

Th ese works are part of the upgrade to infrastructure within the inner harbour which will facilitate the transfer of operations from Berth 7 to Berth 8.

Th e Berth 8 facility is not currently confi gured to effi ciently handle mechanised bulk loading.

Th e upgraded facility will allow for panama-size vessels and will also see the design of a new ship loader capable of loading bulk product at a rate of up to 3000 tonnes per hour.

Th e Berth 6/7 structure was built in 1911 and is currently beyond its design life.

Berth 6 has been decommissioned.

Th e Port of Townsville is

working with Berth 7 users to ensure transitions to new facilities are carried out smoothly and with minimal impact to their operations.

Once operations are transferred from Berth 7 to Berth 8, the Berth 6/7 structure will be demolished.

Th is presents opportunities

to improve effi ciencies at other

Port of Townsville berths -

specifi cally Berths 4 and 8

- where ship movements are

currently constrained due to

the proximity of Berth 6/7.

Design works are under

way and are anticipated to be

complete during 2010.

Berth 8 upgrade coming soon

MV Ice Moon loads and unloads containerised cargo at the Port of

Townsville. Photo: Cameron Laird

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