The company released a scoping study estimating that it could pipe its phosphate slurry between 220 and 266 km from the mine to the coast at a cost of approximately $A184-226 million, with an operating cost of $A2.06-3.69/t of phosphate slurry, depending on which route is selected.
The study looked at three potential sites from which the phosphate could be stored and transported offshore by barge.
Phosphate Australia has indicated that a site at Calvert River was of “˜particular interest’ as it is the only option to be located solely in the Northern Territory. The option features a 266 km pipeline with two pump stations along the route at an estimated cost of $A226 million. Calvert River would also be cheaper to run, with an estimated annual power usage to be 22,185 megawatt hours per annum.
While the Calvert River option would include an area within Aboriginal freehold land and access agreements would need to be negotiated, the company said it “opened up a new development choice as the mine and logistics chain could be within a single jurisdiction.”
The study also looked at a 220 km option located at Tully Inlet, Queensland, which would include the construction of one pump station at a cost of $A184 million, and an operating cost of $A2.06/t. While it is the cheapest option, the pipeline route has been noted as “˜rugged in parts’ through to the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland.
The option to locate the pipeline at Burketown, Queensland, features a 224 km pipeline that runs to an existing transport site at Ballast Grounds, including one pump station for a cost of $A192 million. However, the pipeline route would traverse approximately 20 km of salt plains and the Lawn Hills National Park.
Phosphate Australia said it is currently in discussions with the Northern Territory Department of Resources, Minerals and Energy, which is “very receptive to new developments in the Gulf area”.
Phosphate Australia Managing Director Andrew James said that the cost of the pipeline was “extremely competitive” and that “owning and operating such strategic infrastructure as this pipeline could put the company in a commanding and commercially powerful position in the region”. The company’s board is now focusing on the slurry pipeline as a “matter of priority”.
“We will now undertake more detailed investigations into the individual merits of each of the three proposed pipeline routes, including their engineering and topographical challenges, potential environmental impacts and heritage implications.
“Whichever route is chosen, Phosphate Australia will need to construct a barging and storage facility on the Gulf Coast, complete with dewatering plant to extract the rock phosphate from the water-based slurry,” Mr James said.
Sydney-based consultants Slurry Systems prepared the pipeline scoping study based on previous slurry pipeline projects and pipe cost quotes based on the supply of API 5L, Grade X70, DN350 steel pipe from OneSteel.