Major players put their cards on the conference table
By Industry Queensland
It’s mostly all up in Cloncurry where a conference has heard commitments from companies whose futures have the potential to change the future of industry in North West Queensland.
Emerging junior miner Austral Resources told the Meeting of the Mines it had just received approvals to transport a newly acquired SAG Mill from Cobar in north-west New South Wales by road to its Rocklands facility 20km north west of Cloncurry.
The 4.75MW SAG mill adds a dynamic to the crushing capacity to the extent where Chief Operating Officer Shane O’Connell said it would hedge the operation against its two previous failures which left local businesses out of pocket.
South of Cloncurry, a major shutdown at Phosphate Hill next March would allow not only major infrastructure upgrades but also the scheduled rebrick of the Mount Isa Mines copper smelter.
Related: Meeting of the Mines kicks off in Cloncurry
Mayfair Australia Corporation subsidiary Ryowa acquired the Phosphate Hill mine and ammonium phosphate fertiliser manufacturing operation from Dyno Nobel (ASX: DNL) earlier this year. It’s a deal sweetened by a $160 million taxpayer-funded loan facility.
Phosphate Hill operations are intimately linked to the smelter by way of a 1Mtpa acid plant which captures sulphur from the copper smelter stack.
General manager and SSE Northern Australia operations Dan Kelleher said the works were well in planning for the new owners to make the most of opportunities presented by higher fertiliser prices.
Among the more than 250 delegates are:
