Category: Legacy

UNFORTUNATELY for Tasmania, the 2012 Federal Budget indicates that the state will face a federal funding shortfall of $500 million during the next three financial years. This news has further compounded Tasmania’s fiscal woes as it struggles to bring an unhealthy deficit – expected to be more than $250 million this financial year – under control. Furthermore, its unemployment rate is the nation’s highest at 8.3 per cent. The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed a loss of 2500 Tasmanian jobs in April alone, hence the importance of the state’s small yet profitable mining sector. Significant social and economic impacts At the end of 2009-2010, Tasmanian mines employed 1646 people – the majority as direct employees – and spent about $456…

THIS year’s Surat Basin Energy and Mining Expo is expected to be even better than the inaugural expo the previous year, following the implementation of new marketing strategies to strengthen event awareness, increase attendance and further support Queensland’s resources sector. After undertaking research in the region, Queensland-based Australian Events devised the idea of the expo and formulated the event program, with the first ever Surat Basin Energy and Mining Expo held in June 2011. Australian Events director Bob Carroll said that the company’s affiliate, Carroll Media and Marketing, was then used to implement effective marketing strategies. This year’s approach involves utilising the APN media group’s network to promote the event in APN regional newspapers from Central NSW to North West…

AUSTRALIAN base metals explorer Ventnor Resources has significantly boosted its portfolio after acquiring new ground in the highly-prospective Mesoproterozoic Bangemall Basin at Kumarina, 200km north of Meekatharra in WA. The Kumarina exploration project is the largest landholding in the Bangemall Basin and the company intends to conduct greenfield exploration there. Ventnor is also well positioned to begin exploration of its tenements in western Queensland after it was awarded a $125,000 State Government drilling grant. Received in March, the grant is part of the Greenfields 2020 Collaborative Drilling Initiative (CDI) and will be used to progress exploration drilling in the Georgina Basin, 200km southwest of Mount Isa, to test for a possible iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit. The majority of Ventnor’s exploration…

THE Port of Brisbane achieved a new record for annual container throughput in May, with more than 1 million containers moving through what is Australia’s fastest growing port. Also the largest general cargo port in Queensland, the Port of Brisbane sits at the mouth of the Brisbane River. It has seven container berths along an 1800m quay line leased and operated by two stevedores, with 700m of general cargo wharves handling break-bulk cargo, containers, motor vehicles and other roll-on/roll-off cargo. The port’s dry bulk terminals are used for a variety of materials including coal, grain, sugar, cement and woodchips, while the wet bulk terminals are used for crude oil and refined oil products. The Port of Brisbane is managed and…

PRIVATELY-owned development group Asia Iron Australia holds a portfolio of more than 703 square kilometres of tenements in WA’s Mid West region. With the financial backing of its Chinese shareholders, the company is progressing its most advanced project, Extension Hill, with a draft implementation study for Stage 1 recently completed. Asia Iron is a subsidiary of Asia Iron Holdings, a Hong Kong company 60 per cent owned by Chongqing Chonggang Minerals Development Investment and 40 per cent owned by SINOM Investments. Within its tenement holdings, Asia Iron has defined magnetite and thermal coal resources. In addition to Extension Hill, it…

LEADING manganese ore producer Consolidated Minerals (Consmin) has announced that it is in an important transitional year as its Woodie Woodie mine moves from being contractor-operated to owner-operated. The announcement follows a detailed review of Woodie Woodie’s strategic plan during the first half of 2011, and the company expects the shift will help reduce cash costs at the Pilbara mine. Ukrainian-owned Consmin, which also owns 90 per cent of Ghana Manganese Company (which in turn owns and operates a manganese operation in Ghana), is one of the top five manganese ore producers in the world. Record production levels experienced at Woodie Woodie last year confirm this. Despite Consmin taking a hit last year as the Australian dollar strengthened and manganese…

INDUSTRY-leading fleet services company Sargent is introducing 15 ‘go anywhere’ specialist buses to its fleet for use across Queensland’s booming coal seam gas industry. The 4×4 heavy-duty, off road vehicles known as truck busses will be used by Australian Pacific LNG (APLNG) and Queensland Gas Company (QGC) to securely shuttle crews across their Surat Basin and Bowen Basin project sites. With mine safety an ongoing focus, Sargent chief executive officer Grant Chugg said demand for the specialised buses was growing as more gas projects came online. “We chose the 4000 series with 18 seats because it is better suited to the gas industry and the number of people they need to move at a time, and meets all the stringent…

DAIMLER Trucks Perth has expanded and is now able to provide customers with new Fuso, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner trucks and buses from its new location on Kewdale Road in Welshpool, WA. In addition to its range of new busses and trucks, Daimler Trucks Perth also  stocks a range of quality used vehicles and provides on-site finance approval. It offers late night vehicle servicing, builds one-off special purpose vehicles and stocks a huge range of factory and aftermarket parts and accessories. Daimler Trucks Perth has a reputation for being a ‘one stop shop’ capable of   meeting all its customers’ needs. he company provides Fuso 22 or 25  seat Rosa busses; Mercedes-Benz 6  busses; new trucks ranging from customised body building solutions.…

BLOW out the cobwebs at WA’s only shooting complex. Established more than 15 years ago, Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in the Perth suburb of Belmont is one of the safest recreational shooting facilities in Australia, offering customers the thrill of shooting handguns, rifles and shotguns in the security of an indoor complex that operates seven days a week. On offer are famous guns such as the Browning, Beretta, Glock, Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Para Ordnance and Desert Eagle. As well as these famed guns, customers also have a choice of cowboy lever action rifles, 12 gauge shotguns and .22lr rifles which can be used to test accuracy. Lone Ranges can organise social or business functions and team building exercises, and…

FOR many years the well-kept secret of international ski enthusiasts, in recent years Japan has exploded onto the market as a major, mainstream ski destination. Increasingly aware of the perfect powder and well groomed slopes of its many ski resorts, more and more Australians are making an annual pilgrimage to Japan. With Tokyo only a nine-hour flight from Australia, the proximity allows for either short seven-night holidays or longer stays. Some of Japan’s ski resorts are so small that they only operate one lift, but its primary ski destinations are very large and cater to crowds of international tourists. These larger resorts include the towns of Niseko, Rusutsu and Furano on the north island of Hokkaido; and major resorts on…

THE Mt Buller snow community is primed with a sense of excitement for the 2012 winter season; this year the community is proud to shout ‘Buller’s better’. Mt Buller is Australia’s most accessible snow resort, just a three-hour drive from Melbourne. What makes Mt Buller stand out from other ski resorts is its new infrastructure, ongoing enhancements and long-term master plan for scheduled improvements. The mountain has a brand new chairlift on its northern side – cheekily christened Bonza – that is the only new chairlift in an Australian ski resort since 2005. In addition, the popular Howqua lift has been given an overhaul and the resort now has 18 new snow guns to ensure higher volumes of better quality…