Significant boost for Aurukun Bauxite project

The $3 billion Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) aluminium project passed two important milestones today.

Premier Peter Beattie told State Parliament the Aurukun Bauxite Project had been granted significant project status by Queensland’s Coordinator-General.

“The Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the native title holders and the Aurukun Shire Council has also been formally registered,” Mr Beattie said.

“This formal native title agreement will enable Chalco to conduct its feasibility study on the Aurukun deposit.”

Mr Beattie said the significant project status would enable the State Government to play a key role in coordinating the complex decision making process involving Federal, State and Local governments.

“The Chalco project is one of the biggest development proposals in Queensland’s history,” Mr Beattie said.

“It is expected to create 2300 jobs during a three-year construction period and more than 600 permanent jobs for regional Queensland including Aurukun and east coast regions.

“The potential economic benefits include an increase in bauxite and alumina exports worth more than $200 million per year. It would also generate significant revenue from royalties and taxes.

“Chalco must now assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of its proposal and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for each part of the overall project.”

The Chalco proposal involves:

• Development of a mine at Aurukun with a capacity of 6.5 Million tonnes a year of dry beneficiated bauxite;

• Construction of bauxite loading facilities, including jetty, wharf and associated port facilities at Boyd Point north of Aurukun to accommodate 70,000 tonne Panamax vessels;

• Shipping of bauxite from the Aurukun mine to a refinery on the east coast of Queensland at either Townsville, Bowen or Gladstone;

• Development of an alumina refinery with an initial capacity of 2.1 million tonnes a year and related facilities including residue storage and bauxite/alumina handling and port facilities.

“There are potentially a large number of Local, State and Commonwealth agencies responsible for considering approvals for the projects and we know the approvals process will be complex,” Mr Beattie said.

“This assessment will be supervised on behalf of the Queensland Government by the Coordinator-General.”

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