Port of Esperance to Review All Metals Shipments
Date: 23-Mar-07
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: James Regan
The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) of Western Australia state said it was reviewing the port's licence covering all metal shipments and would prevent loadings if it found a risk of odours and dust causing health problems.
Lead exports to China from the Magellan mine via the port have already been suspended pending the outcome of investigations following the death of thousands of birds in the immediate area.
The operator, Magellan Metals Pty. Ltd., owned by Canada's Ivernia has been forced to stockpile its lead concentrates at the mine located 700 km (435 miles) away pending the findings of the probe.
A number of other mining and smelting operations in the far western Australian outback rely on the port to export nickel, lead, iron ore and other minerals.
The port's web site shows the port handled outgoing shipments of 213,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate, 5.9 million tonnes of iron ore and 86,262 tonnes of lead concentrate in 2006.
Portman Mining Ltd. is the main exporter of iron ore from the port, while nickel miner Jubilee Mines Ltd. shipped 19,000 tonnes of concentrate in the last quarter, all bound for Xstrata Ltd.'s Inco division n Canada.
NEXT STEP
Up to 4,000 birds died in Esperance between early December and January, prompting the DEC to direct port operators to increase monitoring of air quality before allowing further shipments of lead-bearing material.
So far, 84 port workers tested last week returned lead levels well below recommended guidelines, the DEC said.
As the next step in its investigation, the DEC plans to monitor nickel loading at the port on March 26, and has recommended the port use more air sampling equipment during loading, according to DEC spokesman Robert Atkins.
"We've formally advised the Esperance Port Authority that we'll have DEC officers on site to watch the loading process," Atkins said.
BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc., which ceased regular shipments of nickel from the port in 2005, plans to resume shipments next year in air-tight containers once its Ravensthorpe nickel mine under construction 200 km away at a cost of $2.2 billion is commissioned, a company spokeswoman said.
"Nickel hydroxide from the Ravensthorpe project would only be shipped in purpose-built sealed containers when production commences next year," she said.
Ravensthorpe is being built to yield about 50,000 tonnes of nickel contained in a concentrate that would be shipped by sea from Esperance for processing at BHP's Yabulu metals refinery in eastern Australia.
(US$1=A$1.26)
(Additional reporting by Nick Trevethan in Singapore)
