mineral shipments resume on tiwis

FYI
from abc news NT

Mineral shipments resume on Tiwis
Posted 6 hours 11 minutes ago

A $6 million shipment of mineral sands has set sail from the Tiwi Islands for the first time this year.

The managing director of Matilda Minerals, Bruce Maluish, says the collapse of the wharf on Melville Island last year has made it impossible for the company to export zircon, which is used to make ceramics, from its Territory operation.

He says the company is using barges to transport goods to anchored ships off-shore while the wharf remains out of use.

Mr Maluish says another 28,000 tonnes of zircon is ready for export to China.

"We've got another ship scheduled to come in on the second of September and we've just gearing up to have another one out towards the end of September and another couple to follow after those two between the end of September and Christmas.

"We've only been able to exist to date by having a facility in place where we can borrow funds against the stockpile.

Barramun