Thanks soup-Im getting close to my download limit and that file is a bit big from memory, but should look - but did some thinking last night and hauled out the dogeared Australian road/rail maps.
Had thought that from Broken Hill to the Spencers Gulf ports was a long haul. You know-minds eye and all that. Well, say the maps, its actually significantly closer to the eastern Gulf SA ports than BHP's Mt Newman is to Port Headland, which is about 450ks. on a dedicated track. The longest haul would be deposit- to- Whyalla on the other side of the Gulf-that looks about 450k, but more likely it would be exported via a closer port.
It cost BHP a packet to build that private railway, but when you are BHP or Rio etc.thats OK. The little guys dont have access to that sort of money. But here we have a little guy and the track at least is mostly there, in use, lots of spare capacity, paid off long ago, while there is plenty of spare flat land and berth capacity around those established little SA bulk ports. The link between western NSW/Broken Hill and the SA economy goes back a long way. There are no mountain ranges to cross.
Its not all roses- tne NSW railways are notoriously inefficient and dominated by the most backward union in the whole country, to my knowledge. Then again, very little of any haul would be in NSW. Might not be a big problem, if cards are played deftly. Wondering if Toll is involved in bulk haulage on rail in this neck of the woods?
CAP Price at posting:
10.4¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
