Sensational-Adelaide.com

$6m housing plan for Roxby

RHIANNON HOYLE, REAL ESTATE EDITOR

April 23, 2007 02:15am

A $6 million residential development is planned for Roxby Downs to meet unprecedented demand for housing.

The Rivergum Group of Companies has revealed to The Advertiser details of the project, which is a further vote of confidence that BHP Billiton's proposed $5 billion expansion of Olympic Dam will proceed.
Up to 23,000 jobs could be created if the expansion reaches the construction and mining phase.

Adjacent the town centre, the project features an apartment complex of 20 two-bedroom homes.

Rivergum managing director Victor Said is confident the mining expansion will go ahead and the need for quality housing options will be crucial.

"Roxby Downs is already suffering from a shortage of quality housing options and this project is a step in the right direction to solving this problem," he said.

Mr Said predicted the development would be complete by August.

The project has achieved an Average Energy Rating of more than six stars.

While anti-nuclear activists protest against the planned expansion of the mine, residents in nearby Roxby Downs seem to have barely noticed their presence.

Life goes on as usual in the quiet town which was purpose-built for the mine in 1988.

About 5,000 people live there now, although almost a third of them are fly-in fly-out workers.

The median household income is $2,756, more than two-and-a-half times the South Australian average.

It is also hard not to notice the relative youth of the locals.

The median age of the community is 29, compared with the state average of 39.

That means a strong trade in engagement and wedding rings for jeweller Leigh Malcolm.

He made the 560-kilometre trip from Adelaide six years ago and never went back.

"Well, certainly do a lot more here than I did in Adelaide," he said.

"But certainly it's a good market here for it. And people obviously have a fairly high disposable income in town, so it's generally a good sale when we get them."

But there is an impermanence to the community.

Bill Boehm is the administrator of the Roxby Downs Council.

"The turnover's very high, about 20 per cent per year, so that becomes a positive challenge really," he said.

"So you get really good people coming in and then they leave. But then they're replaced by other people with quite often different skills".

He says if the Olympic Dam expansion goes ahead Roxby Downs population is expected to almost double to as much as 10,000, which would probably mean the town would be self sufficient.

Mr Boehm says under the mine indenture agreement between BHP Billiton and the Government, the council is subsidised for its municipal operations.

"The new indenture, assuming it goes through, recognises that there'll be a couple of trigger points for a normal community, what they call a normalisation," he said.

"And that'll be round about, probably most likely be population of about 9,000 people.

"And that will mean that there will be enough rate revenue, enough income generated for the facilities, although there'll be a challenge to get the right facilities, but long term we should be Ok."
Balancing act

But Mr Malcolm says housing is already a pressure point.

"We're bursting at the seams, there's no spare housing to rent. Any housing that gets built, it gets snaffled up straight away," he said.

"It's probably one of the biggest problems actually, there's no accommodation here.

"So a lot of the families that want to move here actually can't, so their partners fly in fly out until accommodation becomes available. And that's probably the biggest issue in town, would be that housing."

Real estate agent Craig Sumsion says it is not that simple to solve the housing issue.

"The town is such that it's hard to tell how many houses you need to build or not.

If you build too many you destroy the economy of the town, if you don't build enough you create a shortage.

"So it's a bit of a fine balancing act and it's going to be like this for the next few years. Until such stage as the town's population becomes stable, it'll continue to be like that.

"But we are seeing it getting better. We have seen some people moving out, some new people moving into the town. So it is getting better. The housing issues aren't as bad as they were, so we'll see it, see that change", he said.

BHP Billiton has until the end of the year to commit to the expansion of the mine.

A horticultural project that uses seawater to grow vegetables, Sundrop Farms, is set for expansion with the backing of South Australia's Port Augusta Council.

Sundrop Farms uses solar-thermal energy to desalinate water from Spencer Gulf to grow food in greenhouses about 20 kilometres south of Port Augusta.

The company was planning to build eight more greenhouses and supporting infrastructure across a 20-hectare site.

The expansion would include a solar-thermal station with a 115-metre tower and 11,000 stands with mirrors to power the operation.

There would be several seawater pipelines and a visitor centre to help promote tourism interest in the venture.

Port Augusta Council's development assessment panel approved the expansion if environmental conditions were met for the management of brine extracted from the water.

The planned solar-thermal generator for the horticulture project would be smaller than one proposed for an upgrade of Port Augusta's currently coal-fired power stations nearby.

Hundreds of jobs are expected to be created with expansion of a greenhouse business near Port Augusta in South Australia where seawater is desalinated to irrigate horticultural produce.

Sundrop Farms will have 20 hectares of greenhouses once the expansion is completed and a deal has been struck to supply supermarket chain Coles with tomatoes for the next decade.

The SA Government announced it was committing $6 million from taxpayers to support the expansion.

Premier Jay Weatherill said at least 100 jobs would be created during construction and there would be 200 ongoing jobs.

"What this represents for South Australia is a fantastic employment opportunity for Port Augusta and the surrounding areas," he said.

"We have identified premium food grown in a clean environment as a key economic priority for South Australia and this project is the perfect example of the benefits that can bring.

"Local schools have also begun offering horticulture training to prepare students for potential opportunities that this project will provide."

Sundrop Farms CEO Philip Saumweber said the regional shift away from a reliance on fossil fuels to solar energy for desalination had many benefits.

We've really turned that upside down and used sunlight and seawater for most of our inputs," he said.

"We're able to really provide a competitive price to the Australian consumer."

Boost for horticulture in arid climate

Mr Weatherill praised Sundrop's technological breakthrough which was letting it grow high-quality produce in an arid region using solar energy and desalinated seawater.

He said it was a flagship model for doing business in the state.

SA Regional Development Minister Geoff Brock also welcomed the economic benefits the ground-breaking venture would bring.

""This project is about testing the limits of sustainable production technologies in arid climates using renewable resources," he said.

"It is a tremendous vote of confidence in regional SA that global company Sundrop Farms has based its cutting-edge operations here, exploring leading-edge future-focused technologies for horticulture industries in arid climates."

The expansion is being supported by an investment of more than $150 million in all, some of that from global investment firm KKR.

Gina Rinehart's Australian-Chinese consortium Outback Beef will take over the majority of the business....

The only property left out of the deal is the defence-sensitive Anna Creek Station and its outstation The Peake, which will be purchased by the neighbouring Williams Cattle Company.

Spokesman Wayne Williams said his family was thrilled ....
"It was very important that we got a property very soon, because of our cattle numbers, we have exceeded where we should be."

Anna Creek is the largest property in the Kidman portfolio, spanning almost 24,000 square kilometres of arid pastoral country in northern South Australia.

The (Williams) family already own five neighbouring cattle stations and a cropping operation further south near Carrieton, which also houses a cattle feedlot.

More than 9,500 calves were marked on the properties last year, which are now overflowing with 8,000 head of excess stock. Mr Williams said he believed it was this strong position that got his family over the line in the Anna Creek deal.

"To buy the property is one thing, but if you had to turn around and buy the cattle as well, yeah that is certainly a big jig," he said.
"It was only that we had that number of cattle that we were in a position to handle it."

The Williams family plans to invest heavily in new waters and trucking yards at Anna Creek to boost its carrying capacity.
...
Livestock SA President Geoff Power said he was pleased to see the family take on the iconic station.
"The Williams family are a local private company, they have a lot of good young people coming through their system so I think it's a great win for not only them but for South Australia."

New industry in Port Augusta a job goldmine for the Upper Spencer Gulf


Port Augusta Mayor Brett Benbow on site with the Cu-River Mining team, parent company of Port Augusta Operations.

A $40 million investment is set to see the return of commercial shipping to Port Augusta for the first time in 50 years.

Port Augusta Operations has submitted its Development Application for state government approval.

The former Port Augusta Power Station site will be transformed into a bulk commodity export terminal, with an initial focus of iron ore.

Port Augusta Mayor Brett Benbow welcomed the news with anticipation.

"It's a credit to them, if they can get something up and running I look forward to the activity," he said.

"We have got a lot of stuff in the pipelines in terms of renewables, but we are hanging out to hear things happening and for some good news

"It's all positive at the moment which is great."

The new Port will be known as Port Playford in homage to the former Premier Sir Thomas Playford and his role in the establishment of the Leigh Creek Coalfield, and the Playford A and B Power Stations.


SITE REMEDIATION: The new wharf located at the former Power Station site. Image: Port Augusta Operations.

The Development Application was added to the public register earlier this month and the facility is anticipated to be operational by late 2022.

It will have an initial capacity of up to 15 million tonnes of magnetite iron ore per annum, but has a future export potential in excess of 50 million tonnes per annum.

A spokesperson for Port Augusta Operations said activities will sustain 100 jobs in the region.

"These jobs are likely to require skillsets such as site supervision, civil works, health and safety, engineering, procurement and contracts, site management and construction," they said.

"Long-term, it is anticipated 80 permanent positions will be generated to support ongoing port operations.

"Indirect jobs will also be supported through the use of local suppliers and sub-contractors to support port operations."

Iron will be transported to the port using the existing rail line before being loaded onto a self propelled transshipment barge at the new wharf.

The use of inland transport is expected to reduce export costs for South Australian iron ore developers.


Port Playford export facility: Proposed new and existing infrastructure. Image: Port Augusta Operations.

In light of the city's long documented history of poor air quality, the company has engaged environmental specialists to monitor air quality and dust management.

In a bid to manage the dust the train load out facility, conveyors and stockpile sheds will all be fully enclosed.

"Taking these measures into account, a specialist contractor was engaged to assess air quality and dust management in relation to the proposed port development," a spokesperson for Port Augusta Operations said.

"This study assessed the potential impacts of dust from rail wagons, unloading, stockpiles, conveying, barge loading, barge transport and transhipment activities and concluded that impacts would not be significant.

"Across the site more broadly, ongoing dust management methods for the former ash storage area, as previously delivered by Flinders Power, will be continued in line with the Site Management Plan."

The air quality monitoring station which has been located at the Lea Memorial Oval for three years was removed earlier this year

The monitor had been used to track air quality impacts during the closure of the power stations and continued to be used while rehabilitation works, such as the soil capping of the former ash dams, were undertaken.

Port Augusta Operations will continue to monitor air quality and report results to the EPA while publishing data on its website.

The company is also working with a community reference group comprising representatives of the community with an interest in the site and the project to ensure key issues of interest are being managed in accordance with community expectations.

This story Augusta's new Port in the hands of the state government first appeared on The Transcontinental.

https://www.portpirierecorder.com.au/st ... t/?cs=1530

PeFe wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:45 pm

I am sure I read something awhile ago that said the Carrapateena Mine wants to ship its products from this port.

Green dreams: Managing the transition from rust to renewables



It’s not easy finding a hotel room in Port Augusta these days, and it’s not because of tourists or grey nomads. After striking out with a number of motels I finally found one with a mobile number on a post-it note stuck to the dusty front-door. Frank, the proprietor, tells me he’s got one room left that he saves for regulars, but to do that he had to unblock it from the booking system. “You probably thought you were just gonna waltz in here and get a room, no sweat,” he suggests. “But you’d be struggling. Port Augusta is packed.” When I ask why, he replies: “Oh, the boys working on that wind farm, of course.”

The next day I find myself stuck in a traffic jam of white Hilux utes and discover there is not just one big wind project around here, there are two. East of town, on the road to Adelaide, is the Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park, the country’s biggest hybrid wind and solar project which, when finished, will feature 210MW of wind energy capacity and 107MW of solar. And then on the other side of town there is phase 2 of the Lincoln Gap wind farm, that will boast a total of 464MW when finished. No wonder there’s barely any rooms available to sleep in, or even much room to move on the roads.

Five years after the closure of South Australia’s last coal-fired generators, the Port Augusta region – which includes the neighbouring cities of Whyalla and Port Pirie, finds itself in the middle of a renewable energy boom. Already complete is the Bungala solar farm, which at 220MW ranks among the biggest in the country, and there is a host of different pumped hydro projects vying for funds and contracts, including those at Goat Hill just behind Lincoln Gap. And there is also the 280MW Cultana solar farm near Whyalla and the 100MW/200MWh Playford Big Battery that have approvals and contracts, even if their development has been held up by the financing issues for Whyalla steel owner GPG Alliance.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/green-dream ... enewables/