Saddling up to ride vanadium boom in North-West Qld

The towns of Richmond and Julia Creek in North-West Queensland are preparing for boom times as they share the focus of a big part of the world’s push towards a carbon neutral economy. Vanadium redox flow batteries are touted for their storage capacity and their ability to enable solar and wind farms to contribute to peak load demand. One of the largest reserves in the world has been identified in a geological anomaly called the Toolebuc formation, which runs hundreds of kilometres from north of the Flinders Highway into the Northern Territory and South Australia. Six exploration companies currently working in the McKinlay and Richmond Shires are in various stages towards proving an economic resource on leases covering hundreds of square kilometres over the area. Richmond Shire Mayor John Wharton. History had shown the influence of fast emerging resource development also had negative impacts and many smaller communities caught up in the action continued to repent at leisure, Richmond Shire Mayor John Wharton said. They were determined to avoid the downside, Cr Wharton said. “It's great to have another income stream come into our community, “ he said. “We are a very important cog in the transport corridor between towns of Townsville and Mount Isa. We're halfway, as you can see, we've got a big brand-new roadhouse down there that was built basically for that. “So, for vanadium mining to come here is great. And it was interesting to hear yesterday in Julia Creek how we want to make this happen in a steady way. “We don't want to be boom and bust like some of the other communities that have had mining and rents go up to six, 700 bucks a week and no-one can stay there. “People in the service industry can't stay there. You know, they leave. And we’ve got to keep all those people.” It was important for councils to be ahead of that growth, Cr Wharton said. “We need to be on the front foot with regard to housing,” he said. “If we built too many houses, it's not going to work. We want the miners to do that. “You know, we don't think the ratepayers of the Richmond Shire should be building houses. We'd rather have business run it. “I'm not a believer in government creating jobs. Government just needs to run government and business runs jobs, so, I'm a very strong believer in that. “Our job is to regulate or assist those people develop and don't put blockages in front of them.” Richmond and McKinlay Shires hosted a two day vanadium forum this week featuring four key vanadium exploration companies.

Saddling up to ride vanadium boom in North-West Qld

Industry Queensland

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