townsville port , page-2

Miner's port plan a boost

TONY RAGGATT | December 6th, 2012

LISTED explorer and emerging miner CuDeco Ltd will spend more than $20 million developing a bulk materials and export facility at Townsville port early next year.

The company's logistics manager, John Green, announced the plans at a Townsville Industry Breakfast at Brothers Leagues Club yesterday, saying he hoped work on the project would begin in March.

"It's an exciting proposition for us," Mr Green said. "We are looking at building a bulk load, bulk export facility and we have been working on getting the approvals over the last three years.

"We have spent over $1.6 million getting those approvals."

CuDeco has secured a lease over about 1.5ha of land opposite BHP Billiton's mineral concentrates storage and loading facility on reclaimed land on the eastern side of the port.

Tenders for design work will be awarded in the next few weeks.

Mr Green said the facility would be the first stage of what was envisaged to be a three-phase plan to boost output as its new mine ramped up production.

The mine and a co-located processing plant will produce about 300,000 tonnes per year of native copper metal, copper-gold concentrates, pyrite-cobalt concentrates and magnetite concentrates.

Mr Green said the first stage of its export facility with conveyor system to the port's berth 4 would probably cost in the order of $22 million.

He said a second phase could cost another $15 million and a third phase, if the company opted to become part of an outer harbour development, would cost more than $100 million.

"As the mine grows, the shed will grow, so to speak," he said.

"I think it's a very significant project for Townsville.

"A lot of junior miners haven't been able to have a big enough project to build their own infrastructure to the point where they have had to go with existing companies that have got a bit of a hold on some of the infrastructure.

"CuDeco has been fortunate enough to procure its own infrastructure and raise its own funds (and have) zero debt."

CuDeco chairman Wayne McCrae last month announced Chinese equipment supplier Sinosteel Equipment and Engineering Co Ltd had accepted a deal for a placement of 7.6 million CuDeco shares, at $4.50 each, in lieu of cash payment for equipment including a 22-megawatt power station for the mine.

Townsville Enterprise economic development general manager Ross Contarino said Rocklands was an exciting project for the region.

"These projects really will bolster the whole of the region," Mr Contarino said.

Mr Green said the project would create about 50 jobs at Townsville and 130 jobs at Cloncurry with first production expected for early 2014