EIS for Boulder steel mill Andrew Fraser November 08, 2006 BOULDER Steel's plans for a $580 million mill west of Brisbane moved ahead yesterday with lodgment of an environmental impact statement at Ipswich council.
Construction of the proposed mill is to begin by June next year, with the first steel in 2009-10.
The project has had several false starts, but in the past few months it has gained the support of several Dubai investors, for the construction of both the mill at Ipswich and a second finishing mill in Dubai.
The project is being run through a subsidiary of Sydney-based Boulder Steel, Asia Pacific Seamless Tubes, formed as a special-purpose company to build the mill with a capacity to produce 400,000 tonnes annually.
But what is significant is the type of steel that will be produced seamless tubes. This is used largely in the mining industry, and of the worldwide demand of about 20 million tonnes a year, about 15 million tonnes is around the Pacific Rim.
APST managing director Darryl Smith said there were no seamless steel tubes being produced in Australia: "Once the steel mill is operating at full capacity, seamless steel tubes worth approximately $150 million a year will be replaced while exports will generate a further $350 million annually."
While Dubai real estate developer Mohamed Yousef al-Ali has taken an 18 per cent interest in the company, an Abu Dhabi firm is raising the rest of the money, with the results of this fundraising effort to be known early in the new year.
Should the financing be successful the mill will be a big jobs generator for the region with 700 full-time jobs during construction and 750 jobs when fully operational. The mill is part of a broader plan for development of the Ripley Valley near Ipswich, earmarked by the Beattie Government as a major centre of population growth in southeast Queensland over 20 years.
Consequently, the project has a high level of political involvement.
Asia Pacific Seamless Tubes is chaired by David Hamill, who was Treasurer and the member for Ipswich in the first term of the Beattie government.
Yesterday's handover of the EIS was also highly political, with the document received by Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisaselle and other local luminaries.
Boulder Steel has been scouring the world for cornerstone investors since July 2004, when the Queensland Government lured the project to Ipswich's Swanbank Enterprise Park with an offer of infrastructure and training assistance.
BGD Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)