Name and Location
South of Embley bauxite mine and port development project, Cape York peninsula, Australia.

Client
Rio Tinto Alcan.

Project Description
The South of Embley project involves a staged increase in production to 50-million dry product tonnes a year.

It involves the construction and operation of a bauxite mine and associated processing facilities, barge and ferry terminals, as well as a port.

The operation will include:
• a bauxite mine;
• the processing and disposal of the fine waste materials in tailings storage facilities;
• product bauxite stockpiles adjacent to the port facilities;
• the construction and operation of port and shiploading facilities between Boyd and Pera Head;
• dredging for the construction and maintenance of the port and disposal of dredged spoil at an offshore spoil ground;
• ancillary infrastructure, including a diesel-fuelled power station, workshops, a warehouse, administration facilities, sewage treatment plants, general waste disposal and diesel storage;
• water infrastructure, including a water supply dam on a freshwater tributary of Norman Creek, a pump on the Ward river, a pipeline and up to 12 artesian bores;
• a temporary 360-bed on-site camp for the construction phase;
• dredging for the construction and operation of a new ferry terminal at Hornibrook Point, a roll-on/roll-off barge facility at Humbug Point and disposal of dredged spoil at the existing Albatross Bay spoil ground; and
• the modification of the east wharf at Lorim Point to provide protected tug moorings.

The initial installed capacity of the mine is subject to ongoing feasibility studies, but is likely to be either 15-million dry product tonnes a year or 22.5-million dry product tonnes a year.

Value
The cost to establish a 15-million-dry-product-tonne-a-year operation has been estimated at A$1.4-billion.

Duration
Production and shipping of first bauxite from the project is expected to start in 2016.

Latest Developments
Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke has approved Rio’s South of Embley bauxite mine and port development project, in western Cape York, under national environmental law subject to 76 strict conditions.

With the conditions in place, Burke is satisfied that the project can go ahead without unacceptable impacts on the environment.

The original referral decision was revoked in March 2012 to assess previously unidentified shipping movements through the Great Barrier Reef.

Rio subsequently submitted an amended environmental-impact study, which concluded that mitigation measures would be sufficient to limit the project’s residual impacts.

Through Rio’s subsidiary RTA Weipa, it is required to work to an agreed marine and shipping management plan, a temporary barge plan, a dredging management plan and a terrestrial management plan to ensure the safety of fauna and flora in the region.

Burke says these plans are critical to ensuring the health of the surrounding environment and to minimising any adverse effects from dredging. The company is also required to implement a strategy over the life of the project-approval phase to reduce feral pig predation on listed turtle species’ nests.

In addition, the Minister’s conditions require funding of up to A$1.2-million for an Inshore Dolphin Offset Strategy to inform government’s knowledge of the listed migratory species, the Australian snubfin dolphin and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin in the Western Cape York region.

However, despite Burke’s reassurance of environmental safety, the Wilderness Society has warned that the mine will wipe out about 30 000 ha of landscape, which was recently identified as being of World Heritage standard.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Rio Tinto Alcan (Australia), tel +61 7 3625 4445 or email enquiries.mediaaustralia@riotinto.com.