Development of North Australia - Real Progress to Start??

Newly released today is the Australian government white paper on north Australia, along with actual $$ to do some things.

Lots of people and organisations are poring over the document today, but it seems to have been broadly well received do far.

Check it out yourself, with the web address to access it at the bottom of the press release.

As someone living in north Australia it is a long felt need to invest and do more in north Australia but successive governments have seemed reluctant to really commit the money to develop the region, especially on a long term basis.

Lets consider the issue in five years???

Our North, Our Future: A Vision for Developing North Australia

18 June 2015

Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development

Minister for Trade and Investment

The Government has today released its White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future.

This is Australia’s first White Paper on developing Northern Australia, building on our Green Paper and pre-election statement.

It is an essential part of our plan for a strong, prosperous economy and a safe, secure Australia.

With a land mass covering over three million square kilometres, and a population of over one million people, the north has untapped potential.

It is home to some of our most treasured icons including the Great Barrier Reef, the wet tropics of Queensland, Uluru, Kakadu and Cable Beach.

The White Paper is a roadmap for achieving our vision for the north by 2035 and we are starting work right away – alongside the people who live and do business in the north.

We have set out an ambitious long term reform agenda for the north because a strong north means a strong nation.

The White Paper delivers an initial investment of $1.2 billion.This is in addition to the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to provide concessional finance for infrastructure projects in the north.

The Commonwealth Government has already committed nearly $5 billion of its $50 billion nationwide investment in transport infrastructure to the north (including $3 billion for northern sections of the Bruce Highway, $172.2 million for the North West Coastal Highway and $90 million for the Northern Territory Regional Roads Productivity Package).

The White Paper includes measures to unlock the north’s potential across six key areas: simpler land arrangements to support investment; developing the north’s water resources;  growing the north as a business, trade and investment gateway; investing in infrastructure to lower business and household costs; reducing barriers to employing people; and improving governance.

Land in the north has the potential to support greater and more diverse economic activity. But the complexity of land arrangements has slowed development to date.

The Government is supporting simpler and more secure land arrangements in the north, by investing:
• $20.4 million to support native title bodies to realise their potential and negotiate more efficiently with business;
• $17 million to support secure property rights for cadastral surveys, area mapping and township leases; and
• $10.6 million for pilot land tenure reforms to help fund ‘next steps’ for projects that demonstrate the benefits of tenure reform, particularly on pastoral leases.
The Government will also work with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to:
• reduce native title costs and delays – the Government wants all existing native title claims settled in the next 10 years; and
• allow Indigenous Australians to borrow against or lease out exclusive native title land.

The Government will support the development of more water resources in the north by establishing a $200 million Water Infrastructure Development Fund. The Fund will provide up to $5 million for a feasibility analysis for the Nullinga Dam near Cairns, and up to $5 million for a detailed examination of land-use suitability for Ord Stage 3.
Secure water rights will be a condition for any water delivered through new Commonwealth funded water infrastructure.
The Government will also provide $15 million for water resource assessments of the Mitchell River (Queensland), West Kimberley (Western Australia) and Darwin region (Northern Territory).

More business, trade and investment means stronger growth, more jobs, higher incomes and better living standards in the north and across Australia.

The proximity to the fast-growing Asian and tropical regions means boundless opportunities where demand for Australian goods and services is reaching unprecedented levels.

The Government will help attract more investors to the north by:
• hosting a major northern investment forum in Darwin in late 2015 to bring together international investors, supported by the new investment prospectus: “Northern Australia emerging opportunities in an advanced economy”;
• setting up a new $75 million Cooperative Research Centre on Developing Northern Australia;
• investing $15.3 million to position the north as a global leader in tropical health;
• providing $12.4 million for Indigenous Ranger groups to expand biosecurity surveillance, with further details on biosecurity to be announced in the forthcoming Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper; and
• helping business enter new markets and supply chains by increasing access to the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme and Industry Skills Fund.

For too long, governments have tied up investment in unnecessary red tape. The Government will end these delays by partnering with the Northern Territory Government to establish a ‘single point of entry’ in Darwin to streamline regulatory processes and cut red tape for major investors.

The Government will also remove excessive regulatory burden by streamlining and simplifying cultural heritage, fisheries, and wildlife trade regulations, and supporting northern industries including fisheries and crocodile trade.

Infrastructure is critical to fast tracking growth and unlocking the north’s economic potential.

The Commonwealth Government will focus on funding high priority infrastructure through:
• a $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, providing concessional loans for major infrastructure in the north and supporting projects prioritised on the new infrastructure pipeline;
• a new $600 million roads package to improve key roads in the north, including consideration of upgrades for the Arnhem, Barkly, Flinders, Great Northern, Savannah and Hann highways, the Outback Way and the Tanami Road;
• a $100 million beef roads fund which will help improve cattle supply chains;
• investing $39.6 million to upgrade airstrips and subsidise air services in remote Australia; and
• investing $5 million in rail freight analyses — starting with a pre-feasibility analyses of the Mount Isa to Tennant Creek railway and an upgrade of the Townsville to Mount Isa line.

The north’s workforce needs are unique. Many businesses effectively shut down or cut back during the wet season; working long hours in the dry season. For example, tourism workers often need to work outside standard hours, while mining or agriculture workers can be required to stay onsite for extended periods of time.

The Government will build on existing initiatives across Australia, including reforms to higher education, skills and training and the $5.5 billion Growing Jobs and Small Business Package to create the right conditions for small business to grow and create new jobs.

The Government is also helping more Australians to work in the north by:
• assisting the Northern Territory Government to streamline recognition of occupational licenses from other jurisdictions, abolishing red tape and expanding job opportunities;
• supporting northern business to invest in the skills of their workforce with additional assistance under the Industry Skills Fund; and
• supporting remote job seekers to work in real jobs through reforms to the Remote Jobs and Communities Programme.

To complement our investment, we will continue to work with Indigenous Australians, the northern jurisdictions and industry so the north can reach its full potential.

The Northern Australia Strategic Partnership — the biannual gathering of First Ministers from the Commonwealth and northern jurisdictions — will be made permanent.

The Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia has been continued for the life of the Parliament to ensure ongoing bipartisan support for developing the north.

Shifting the Office of Northern Australia to the north will also increase links between the north and the Commonwealth.

Northern Australia can grasp its full potential and become an economic powerhouse within our great country.

We will drive down the costs of operating in the north for business; making it a more attractive place to invest and work.

By building a prosperous north, we will build a better future for all Australians.

More information on the White Paper is available at: https://northernaustralia.dpmc.gov.au/

Renewable Energy Comes to Mining in Remote Australia - BIG TIME.

Sandfire Resources has recently signed a deal with Brisbane-based Juwi Renewable Energy to build a $40 million solar power station at its DeGrussa copper project near Meekatharra to help power the mine and its processing operations.

The project had potential to establish DeGrussa as an industry leader in the use of renewable power for mining and processing operations.  Sandfire said its cash contribution to the project would be less than $1 million, with Juwi to arrange project funding and own/ operate the facility.

The station will utilise a 10.6-megwatt solar array comprising 34,080 solar photovoltaic panels [ on 20 ha near the mine and concentrator] that track the sun coupled with a 6-megawatt battery, and will be the biggest integrated off-grid solar array in Australia, and one of the biggest used in the mining industry anywhere in the world. The solar power station will be integrated with the existing 20-megwatt, diesel-fired power station at DeGrussa, which is owned and operated by Kalgoorlie Power Systems.

It will be structured to maximise the consumption of lower-cost solar power, thereby reducing reliance on diesel, however the diesel power station will continue to provide base-load power to the DeGrussa mine.  The project is expected to achieve savings in diesel fuel and will deliver a significant environmental benefit for DeGrussa, reducing its carbon emissions by an estimated 12,000 tonnes a year.

Sandfire's managing director Karl Simich said the company had been working on the solar power initiative since 2013, with the project representing an attractive opportunity to participate in a low-risk renewable energy initiative with a minimal capital requirement.  It is interesting to see this announcement now, following a recent article bemoaning use of solar power in remote operations in Australia, especially in comparison to mining in Chile.

He said the project would not affect the efficiency or safety of existing operations, and would allow the company to contribute to the broader challenge of reducing CO2 emissions and potentially reducing operating costs. "We are continuing to explore other options to reduce our energy costs, including using alternatives such as compressed natural gas for gas-fired power generation," he said.

Juwi managing director Andrew Drager said the solar photovoltaic system would provide the majority of daytime electricity to substantially reduce the mine's dependence on imported diesel.

Gas to Diesel Fuel - Is There a Case for a Plant in Australia?

There is a lot of gas in Australia, and less it seems of liquid fuels suitable for diesel or petrol.  Could there be a case for gas to diesel conversion? Economics seem to be positive, particularly for remote areas.  Surprise suprise - that is where the gas is, as well as there being major needs for diesel for transport fuel for trucks and power generation, all of which is trucked in from refineries located a long way from where the fuel is used.

A recent article explores this in some detail -
 http://www.miningnewspremium.net/storyview.asp?storyid=9590380&sectionsource=s0 .

The major Australian engineering group GHD has been examining this idea in some more detail, and presented some results of a study focused on the WA Canning Basin recently.

“The miners are very reliant on diesel. Some use it for their trucks, some use it for power generation and it’s costing them a lot of money,” GHD studies manager Jonathon Beales said at the Australian Gas Technology conference in Perth  recently.

“Talking to a number of our clients, we’ve estimated the cost of transporting diesel from Port Hedland or Kwinana adds 25 per cent to the cost they have to pay for it.”

Add to the fact that 40-50% of diesel is currently imported and there’s currently a shortage of diesel – also in the order of 40-50% – and there’s a compelling case for miners to subtly encourage gas producers to consider Gas-To - Liquids [GTL] projects for their commercialisation plans.

GHD estimated a 55 tonne iron ore project could use up to 1 million litres of diesel per day.

As an industry, Beales reckoned, the iron ore sector used 11.1 billion litres of diesel in 2010.

Beales said synthetic diesel delivered from a GTL plant could cost miners a whopping 85% less than having to import their fuel, given the right circumstances.

But what’s in it for gas producers?

“In a number of discussions with companies we’ve had in that region, we’ve found that they are sitting on a great resource but are struggling to find a way to get it to market,” Beales said.

It seems to be a win-win for both industries and would increase Australia’s liquid fuels security to boot.

While the cost of developing a plant is high - possibly $1 billion - it would add to Australian local fuel supplies while offering some real cost savings along the west coast of Australia for mining and other resource projects including agricultural and pastoral developments.

Developing the GTL plant close to the gas seems sensible, but will it happen?  Do not hold your breath, yet! 

Should Australia Be Selling the Farm??

Not according to a leading American resources analyst, anyway. And many Australians probably agree.

Leading American investment analyst James Dines has criticised Australia for allowing China to buy large swathes of its natural resources in what he calls "resource imperialism".

Australia was in danger of squandering its "irreplaceable inheritance ... traded for easily printed paper", Mr Dines said.

Mr Dines, the keynote speaker this week at the RIU Victorian Resources Roundup conference, told an audience of mining executives, brokers and investors that the end of capitalism as we knew it had arrived and that we were in the second great economic depression.

His entertaining, if alarming, speech would have prompted mixed feelings among a crowd that included executives with a strong Chinese presence on their share registries.

State-owned Chinese companies are also becoming a major foreign investor in Australia.

Mr Dines, editor of the Dines Letter and author of numerous books, described natural resources, including farmland, as a source of real wealth that should be kept for "your descendants".

By pursuing resource imperialism, China was building stockpiles of commodities well above its immediate needs, such as rare earths - it already produces 97 per cent of the world total - and copper.

The Australian Foreign Investment Review Board blocked a $252 million bid by state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining to acquire Australian rare earth miner Lynas in 2009.

So, what is motivating China?

The world's most populous country wants to secure its resource needs for centuries to come.

More in the article here -
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/national/10369499/australia-shouldnt-sell-farm-analyst/

And it is not only Australia.......China [mostly through state owned enterprises - and that is the nub of concerns] is much more active in many less developed countries, especially in Africa and South America, even Afghanistan which seems to have some large mineral deposits that are largely unexplored, and which the Chinese are eyeing off.

Some say they have stuffed their own land for agriculture and horticulture with poor farming practices and pollution and they need to find other soils........to do the same???

Definitely resources imperialism!

Sediment Socks Work Better with Compost

Compost socks

Using a sand filled coil as an environmental salvation tool is quite common. Seen round the streets and building sites these long thin “socks” are a common tool for erosion and sediment management in almost any site where sediment movement could be expected.

Traditionally, it was sand that went into these socks.

But performance can be enhanced, by the simple change from sand to compost or fine pasteurised mulch products. That is a simple and easy change to make, and it may cost nothing different.

An even better option can be to add some of the bioremediation type products available that have oil and hydrocarbon remediation attributes. There are a few brands available, but an easy one available in Australia is Enretech -1 , a powdered product that can be added to the sand or even the mulch mix.

Fine hydrocarbon materials, metals and rubber , commonly moved off roads in wet weather will be trapped by the socks and the hydrocarbons bioremediated, avoiding their movement into waterways.

The mulch is superior to sand in capturing the hydrocarbons, and as good or better in slowing sediments in general.

And costs about the same as sand filled socks.

So.........think about the issue and make the switch to a better sediment sock!

Additional details on installation and use are here -http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm?action=factsheet_results&view=specific&bmp=120

and are applicable almost anywhere around the world.

Strategic Agricultural Land to be Protected from Gas Mining

Stunning new protection for strategic agricultural land has been announced for Queensland.

It is aimed very squarely at coal seam gas mining, and the potential for damaging land - land of high value for agriculture.

Believed to be a first in the world situation, the Queenslnd Minister for the Environment made the announcement today. Ironically, probably in the shadow of the Indonesian live export cattle slaughter saga, which has been major media news in Australia today, so media may not have picked up on the issue quickly. it is big news!

Anyhow.........read more here.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/cropping-land-protected-from-mining/story-fn3dxity-1226066560517

There will be a lot more written over the next few weeks and months.

This is an amazing win for rural areas, in terms of land protection.

It is early days, but judging on views expressed at meetings I have been to on the Darling Downs, there will be a lot of very pleased rural landholders.