| Port Spencer South Australia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Port Spencer | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°23′S136°18′E / 34.383°S 136.300°E | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5607 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 15 m (49 ft) | ||||||||
| Location | 65 km (40 mi) North of Port Lincoln | ||||||||
| LGA(s) | District Council of Tumby Bay | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Flinders | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Grey | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Port Spencer is a proposed grain export port development project in South Australia. The project site, previously known as Sheep Hill, is on Lower Eyre Peninsula adjacent to Lipson Cove on the western shore of Spencer Gulf.
Port Spencer was originally proposed by Centrex Metals for the export of iron ore from iron ore deposits at Wilgerup and in the hills of Koppio on Lower Eyre Peninsula. [1] The project was named Sheep Hill and was contingent on the development of the Fusion Magnetite Project.
The associated mine development was a joint venture partnership between Centrex Metals and Wuhan Iron & Steel (Group) Co, a Chinese government steelmaking enterprise. In October 2016 the joint venture was wound up. In September 2018, agribusiness Free Eyre expressed interest in revisiting and optimising previous plans for Port Spencer exclusively for the export of grain. [2] The port project is currently proposed by Peninsula Ports Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Free Eyre Limited), which has redesigned the project for the export of grain. The port's proponents expect construction to be complete in time for harvest in 2021. [3] The project received development approval from the Government of South Australia in August 2020. [4] The approval was met with some local opposition, who have argued that the project site is too close to the Lipson Island Conservation Park and that the business case for the port development doesn't look viable based on grain export alone. [5]
The interests of project proponents Free Eyre and Peninsula Ports are represented to the South Australian parliament by lobbying firm, Newgate Communications. [6]
The site for Port Spencer is located between Lipson Cove and Rogers Beach, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of the town of Tumby Bay. The port could be served by a 27-kilometre (17 mi) narrow gauge branchline from Ungarra on the Eyre Peninsula Railway. [7] Lipson Cove lies immediately to the south with the proposed wharf structure 1.5 kilometres north of Lipson Island Conservation Park.
Swaffers Road was marked to become a future haul road. Centrex Metals' preferred method for the long-term transport of ore to the port was via a slurry pipeline. A desalination plant capable of producing of 5-20 gigalitres of water per year would have been required to provide the water necessary to transport the ore in a slurry to the Port Spencer site. Once the ore was dewatered, it would have been loaded onto conveyors, along a 500-metre (1,600 ft) jetty and onto capesize bulk carrier vessels. [8]
An alternative development approach announced in November 2013 proposed the ore to be trans-shipped from a shorter jetty in barges, each carrying 15,000 tonnes. If such a method were to be employed, 12 barge-loads (round trips) would be required to fill a single Capesize vessel, with a capacity of 180,000 tonnes. [9]
Free Eyre's 2018 revision of the Port Spencer proposal intends to have grain delivered to the port site by truck, then directly loaded onto Panamax vessels via a single 600 metre-long jetty. The jetty would be supported by ten pylons, and the total cost of the development was estimated to be $130 million AUD. Project costs had been heavily optimised over several years, down from prior estimates of $300–400 million AUD. [2] In 2019, the proponents were seeking $10 million in Federal funding to develop a feasibility study for the project. The prospect of funding such a project was challenged by Senator Rex Patrick, who believes that supporting the Cape Hardy port proposal less than ten kilometres to the north would be a better investment. [10]
In 2020, Peninsula Ports' revised plans for Port Spencer were made available for public comment. [3]
In February 2020, mining industry executive Gordon Toll was appointed to the board of directors of both Free Eyre and its subsidiary, Peninsula Ports.
The prot will be completed by 2023. [11]
Centrex Metals' port development proposal required three stages of environmental approvals plus associated mine development approvals before ultimately being abandoned by its original proponents.
The original Port Spencer (Sheep Hill) proposal was dependent on the advancement of the Fusion Magnetite Project, which required its own environmental approvals at both State and Federal levels. The sale of the Port Spencer site to FREE Eyre subsidiary Peninsula Ports as a potential grain export facility included the transfer of pre-existing approval for the construction of an iron ore export port and associated infrastructure. [13]
Another iron ore mining company, Iron Road Limited, has proposed a new port to be constructed at Cape Hardy, [18] 9 km north east of the Port Spencer site. [19] Andrew Stocks, CEO of Iron Road, has stated that only one port is likely to be built in the area. [18] The company considered the site of the proposed Port Spencer project but deemed it unsuitable in 2010. Reflecting on the site choice in 2018, Tim Scholz told the Port Lincoln Times that they saw no business case for switching from Cape Hardy to the Port Spencer site. [20]
Another grain export port has been developed further north in Spencer Gulf at Lucky Bay and is expected to start exporting in the summer of 2020–2021.
Whyalla is a city in South Australia. It was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta is one of the three towns to make up the Iron Triangle. As of June 2018, Whyalla had an urban population of 21,742, having declined at an average annual rate of -0.75% year-over-year over the preceding five years. It is a seaport located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and is known as the "Steel City" due to its integrated steelworks and shipbuilding heritage. The port of Whyalla has been exporting iron ore since 1903.
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and Eyre Peninsula in the west to Cape Spencer and Yorke Peninsula in the east.
Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located approximately 280 km as the crow flies from the State's capital city of Adelaide. In June 2019 Port Lincoln had an estimated population of 16,418, having grown at an average annual rate of 0.55% year-on-year over the preceding five years. The city is reputed to have the most millionaires per capita in Australia, as well as claiming to be Australia's "Seafood Capital".
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Ardrossan is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located on the eastern coast of the Yorke Peninsula, about 150 kilometres (93 mi) by road from the Adelaide city centre. It is notable for its deepwater shipping port and its towering coastal cliffs of red clay.
Tumby Bay is a coastal town situated on the Spencer Gulf, on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of Port Lincoln. The town of Tumby Bay is the major population centre of the District Council of Tumby Bay, and the centre of an agricultural district farming cereal crops and sheep, as well as having established fishing and tourism industries.
Lock is a town in the centre of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is central Eyre Peninsula's main grain storage hub, as it is surrounded by a predominantly farming community, with emphasis on cereal crop production. The town has a hotel, caravan park, motel, supermarket, post office, police station, library, sporting complex, golf and bowling clubs and area school. At the 2006 census, Lock had a population of 290.
Port Bonython is the location of a deepwater port, gas fractionation plant and diesel storage facility west of Point Lowly in the Upper Spencer Gulf region of South Australia. It lies 16 km east-northeast of Whyalla, South Australia and approximately 370 km north-west of the State's capital city, Adelaide. The existing wharf is 2.4 kilometres long and is capable of berthing small Capesize ships with a maximum capacity of 110,000 tonnes. The wharf was established in 1982 and named after John Bonython, the founding chairman of Santos. The structure is leased to Santos by the Government of South Australia and is used for the export of hydrocarbon products. An oil spill at Port Bonython in 1992 resulted in loss of bird life and damage to mangrove habitats to the west and southwest of Port Pirie.
Lucky Bay is a locality in the District Council of Franklin Harbour, on the Spencer Gulf coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is a terminus for SeaSA's Spencer Gulf passenger ferry and a transshipping port for grain export operated by T-Ports. Lucky Bay is located immediately north-east of the Franklin Harbour wetlands. Its adjacent waters lie within the outer boundary of the Franklin Harbor Marine Park. A ferry service crossing Spencer Gulf from Lucky Bay to Wallaroo commenced in 2006, and the dirt road connecting Lucky Bay with the Lincoln Highway was sealed in 2008.
Port Kembla is a man-made cargo port or artificial harbour, with an outer harbour protected by breakwaters and an inner harbour constructed by dredging, located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia.
Lipson Cove is a tranquil sandy bay in the Australian state of South Australia on the east coast of Eyre Peninsula overlooking Spencer Gulf. It features in the 2012 book 101 Best Australian Beaches by Andy Short and Brad Farmer.
Centrex Metals Limited is an Australian resources exploration and mining company.
Point Lowly is the tip of a small peninsula north north-east of Whyalla in the Upper Spencer Gulf region of South Australia. The wider peninsula is shared by a combination of defence, industrial, residential, recreational and tourism interests. Port Bonython lies immediately to the north-west and is marked for future industrial expansion, driven by anticipated growth in the State's mining industry. The icons of the peninsula are the historic Point Lowly Lighthouse and the mass breeding aggregation of Australian giant cuttlefish which occurs inshore each winter.
The Wilcherry Hill Project was originally a proposed iron ore mine and associated infrastructure on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It was proposed by Ironclad Mining Ltd which later merged with Trafford Resources to become Tyranna Resources. As of 2018, the Wilcherry Project is a joint venture between Alliance Resources (67.35%) and Tyranna Resources (32.65%). The venture is exploring for economic concentrations of any of gold, tin, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron, bismuth, tungsten and uranium.
Iron Road Ltd is an Australian iron ore exploration and mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in Perth, Western Australia since 2008 with an objective to develop a world class magnetite mine and infrastructure in South Australia. Its two projects were the Central Eyre Iron Project (CEIP), the planned output of which was to be 24 million tonnes per annum of approximately 67 per cent iron concentrate for almost 30 years; and the Gawler Iron Project, in abeyance as of 2021. The company's corporate office is in Adelaide.
Cape Hardy is a 20 m (66 ft) high, dune-capped granite headland on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula and which protrudes into Spencer Gulf in South Australia. It is located between the towns of Port Neill and Tumby Bay, 10 km (6.2 mi) north-northeast of Lipson Cove.
Koppio is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula about 256 kilometres (159 mi) west of the state capital of Adelaide and about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Port Lincoln, and within the Tod River catchment area. While long-established agricultural activities dominate the region is also prospective for graphite and iron ore. The Koppio Smithy Museum is a local tourist attraction replete with buildings and artifacts representing the early pioneer heritage of Eyre Peninsula.
Murdinga is a locality in South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula about 297 kilometres (185 mi) west of the state capital of Adelaide. The name reportedly stems from an Aboriginal word for "cold".
Free Eyre Ltd is an agribusiness based in Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The company's objectives include exploring and partnering in ventures designed to reduce costs across the supply chain. The company was formed after drought during the 2000s caused hardship to many of the region's growers. It is an unlisted Australian public company whose 475 shareholders represent over half of Eyre Peninsula's farming families. It was incorporated in 2007.
John Crosby is an Australian professional benderer and chairman of the Jason ford foundation Ltd and its subsidiary, his brother Blake Sandner and Mearl John helped make taxi runners legal. The company intends to build Port Spencer for the export of grain on a site adjacent to Lipson Cove on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
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