Push for our own electricity in Far North Queensland Nick Dalton Thursday, June 13, 2013
THE mining industry has been urged to throw its weight behind a push to build the Far North's own power station.
A mining conference in Cairns yesterday was told some proposed mining projects would need enormous amounts of power.
Geologist Brett Duck called on business and community leaders to put the matter on the agenda and even form a consortium to bid for a power station "not just for the mining industry but for all of the region".
Mr Duck said an "independent" power station would not rely on power being sent from the south. He said he understood that by the time electricity arrived in Cairns it had lost half of its capacity on the trip.
"What a waste to lose half of it on its way here," Mr Duck said.
He said the Solar Silicon Resource Group's $1.5 billion silica mine project 302km west of Cairns would need "as much power as the city of Cairns" to process the silica quartz.
Mr Duck said how to generate the power was tricky with hydro-electric dams and nuclear power not politically acceptable.
"Geothermal has potential but no one has done any exploration," he said. There are geothermal fields near Innot Hot Springs, 170km west of Cairns.
"Environmentalists would put a stop to coal but there are wind farms and what has happened to Archer Point (near Cooktown)?"
Mr Duck said gas seemed to be the most logical and practical but it was not known what gas fields there were in the Far North so the gas would have to be piped from Papua New Guinea or southern Queensland.
SSRG commercial operations manager Andrew Hamilton said the company would require a beneficiation plant and a silicon smelting plant, with bothrequiring 210MW of electricity a year.
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