Sensational-Adelaide.com

Wayno wrote:

skyliner wrote:I wonder if anyone has thought of a pipeline from the Pt Lowly site to the lib. site for connection to the sea. it should be a consideration costing less than $500m? it could be on the land surface all the way over thus avoiding trenching costs and as the land is relatively flat this also would reduce costs. It would call for pumping facilities near the sea site and perhaps along the way however. This way all parties are addressed in some way.

I'm confused. Do you mean suck water from the guly into the Desal plant at Point Lowly (for use by BHP, etc) and have an outlet pipe running E->W across the peninsula to discharge brine into the open sea beyond Ceduna?

skyliner wrote:

Wayno wrote:

skyliner wrote:I wonder if anyone has thought of a pipeline from the Pt Lowly site to the lib. site for connection to the sea. it should be a consideration costing less than $500m? it could be on the land surface all the way over thus avoiding trenching costs and as the land is relatively flat this also would reduce costs. It would call for pumping facilities near the sea site and perhaps along the way however. This way all parties are addressed in some way.

I'm confused. Do you mean suck water from the guly into the Desal plant at Point Lowly (for use by BHP, etc) and have an outlet pipe running E->W across the peninsula to discharge brine into the open sea beyond Ceduna?

Exactly.

Whyalla diesel refinery approval to fuel SA mining

THE State Government has approved the construction of a $110 million diesel storage and refinery facility at Port Bonython, north of Whyalla.

Adelaide-based energy company Stuart Petroleum, through its subsidiary Port Bonython Fuels, won approval to build the facility, which has the potential to become a diesel hub for South Australia's mining and transport industries.

The project's $60 million first stage would include:
* CONSTRUCTION of fuel unloading facilities at Port Bonython jetty.
* A 5.3KM fuel pipeline.
* STORAGE tanks with a capacity more than 100 million litres.
* TRUCK loading facilities.

The second stage would involve building a refinery, which would process oil from the Cooper Basin into diesel, and an expansion of storage capacity. Port Bonython is used by Santos for the export of LPG and other petroleum products.

Stuart was negotiating with customers and diesel suppliers, and hoped to make a final decision to go ahead with the project before the middle of the year, managing director Tino Guglielmo said yesterday.

Australia is a net importer of diesel, with much of it coming from South-East Asia.

"What this does is allows us to bring in larger economic quantities directly from South-East Asia,'' Mr Guglielmo said. "Stuart is presently negotiating with major industry participants who have expressed an interest in the project and Port Bonython fuels may ultimately choose to share its 100 per cent equity with a business partner.''

The facility would be capable of delivering up to a billion litres of diesel a year, he said.

Urban Development and Planning Minister Paul Holloway said the two-stage development would create 20 jobs in the Upper Spencer Gulf during construction and a further 20 jobs once it was operating.

"That is great news for the local economy of Whyalla,'' Mr Holloway said. "His proposal has been assessed by the Development Assessment Commission and I have accepted that independent authority's recommendation that the project be given conditional approval.

"The 23 conditions imposed on the development ensure that no environmental harm is caused and the appropriate management plans are in place to govern its construction and operation.''

Whyalla Economic Development Board chief executive officer Steve Arndt said the project was a sign of confidence, especially for the mining sector.

"This is an important project for us in terms of really kicking things off in 2010 and this is only going to be the start for what's going to be a pretty big couple of years for Whyalla,'' he said.

Mr Arndt said Whyalla was already a hub for the mining sector, servicing OneSteel's Whyalla iron ore and steel-making operations, BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam mine and many iron ore projects at various stages of development on the Eyre Peninsula.

"Port Bonython is geographically central to current and future major product users and as such presents a sound logistical solution to long-term fuel supplies for industry and other users in the northern and western regions of our state,'' he said.

skyliner wrote:I wonder if anyone has thought of a pipeline from the Pt Lowly site to the lib. site for connection to the sea.

Wayno wrote:This might sound boring, but it's a big tick of confidence for SA, and shows a general increase in appetite for business risk.

Mpol wrote:So when will these mines start!? And when (and more importantly HOW) will they impact our state? Excuse my ignorance.

Aidan wrote:

skyliner wrote:I wonder if anyone has thought of a pipeline from the Pt Lowly site to the lib. site for connection to the sea.

What would be the point of that? It looks to me like it would have all the disadvantages of the Lib site without the advantage of improving the Eyre Peninsula's water supply arrangements.

If you want to pump the brine somewhere, the natural saltpans around Port Augusta look like a much better destination.

ADELAIDE-BASED explorer IronClad Mining says its planned iron-ore mine on the Eyre Peninsula will cost just $45 million to build and is likely to be in production by November.

Releasing the findings of its pre-feasibility study yesterday, the junior explorer said the proposed two-million-tonne-per-annum mine at Wilcherry Hill near Kimba would be profitable, returning an average margin of $28 a tonne.

IronClad executive chairman Ian Finch said the return estimate was conservative, based on 2009 benchmark iron ore prices and stronger prices could add another $40 a tonne to its margins.

"The outlook for iron ore prices has gone up considerably since that ( pre-feasibility study) was instigated and the financial landscape is now looking a lot better,'' Mr Finch said. "The project is looking fantastic, it is looking dynamic and we are on schedule.''

The pre-feasibility study suggests IronClad spend $10 million to bring the project into production, with the remaining $35 million funded by contractors and paid back during the mine's operation.

Mr Finch said the proposal remained flexible and the company might yet decide to pay the $45 million capital cost up front.

"Not everything is cast in stone but we are certainly negotiating with contractors on that basis,'' he said. "If when we look at the bankable feasibility, we find it is better for us to stump up the capital costs ourselves and take that away from the operating costs, then we may well do it that way.''

The study forecasts stage one of the projects will involve the mining of high-grade magnetite (with an iron grade of more than 60 per cent) from shallow, open-cut pits.

The lower-grade ore would be stockpiled and processed at later stages of the development. IronClad estimates the transport and port costs to ship out of Port Adelaide would total $40 a tonne, on top of mining costs of $8 a tonne.

Mr Finch said if a bulk-commodities port at Port Bonython on Eyre Peninsula were developed, it would make a ``substantial difference'' to the project, shaving at least $20 a tonne off the port and transport costs.

"The actual cost to dig it out of the ground is very little and because it is direct shipping ore. . . it is also very low cost to process,'' he said.

Mr Finch said the company was well advanced with the approvals process and a full bankable feasibility study for the project would be completed in late March.

He said that while production was initially forecast for September, the start date was more likely to be November.

rhino wrote:What is going on with this? Why is there no update yet?