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Giles goes to Rio to keep Gove alumina refinery open
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles met Rio Tinto this week to outline gas supply options to keep its Gove alumina refinery open, as he called on the global miner to "back the Northern Territory".
Mr Giles said that at the meeting on Monday he offered gas to the company, including supply from ConocoPhillips and Santos and support from APA to build the pipeline.
"We have provided certainty with that frame and have explained the options, and they have committed to go away and do some more number-crunching on how that might work and whether or not they want to continue down the path of looking at gas, stay with heavy fuel oil or see what the long-term prospectivity is for the refinery," he said.
"In that meeting on Monday I made Rio aware of an approach we have received from a potential mobile gas facility that is prepared to provide 30 petajoules of gas to the refinery from January 1, 2105, which will give them above and beyond any of the gas requirements they might have."
Mr Giles did not expand on what was meant by a mobile site, but one option could be to supply small-scale liquefied natural gas shipments to the refinery. Caltex has previously said it is investigating the potential to power mine sites with small-scale LNG.
Mr Giles said the future could be bright for Gove and the refinery but it was now down to commercial consideration by Rio.
Mr Giles added that he understood that under the former federal Labor government it had became a high-cost destination for labour and operations, but after the win by the Coalition, there was a chance for Rio to continue in the Gove area, and he would work to reduce the costs.
A Pacific Aluminium spokesman said: "This is a significant issue for our employees, the community of Nhulunbuy, traditional owners and the NT. We will advise our employees, the local community and other stakeholders of any decisions as soon as we are able to."
Mr Giles said that at the meeting on Monday he offered gas to the company, including supply from ConocoPhillips and Santos and support from APA to build the pipeline.
"We have provided certainty with that frame and have explained the options, and they have committed to go away and do some more number-crunching on how that might work and whether or not they want to continue down the path of looking at gas, stay with heavy fuel oil or see what the long-term prospectivity is for the refinery," he said.
"In that meeting on Monday I made Rio aware of an approach we have received from a potential mobile gas facility that is prepared to provide 30 petajoules of gas to the refinery from January 1, 2105, which will give them above and beyond any of the gas requirements they might have."
Mr Giles did not expand on what was meant by a mobile site, but one option could be to supply small-scale liquefied natural gas shipments to the refinery. Caltex has previously said it is investigating the potential to power mine sites with small-scale LNG.
Mr Giles said the future could be bright for Gove and the refinery but it was now down to commercial consideration by Rio.
Mr Giles added that he understood that under the former federal Labor government it had became a high-cost destination for labour and operations, but after the win by the Coalition, there was a chance for Rio to continue in the Gove area, and he would work to reduce the costs.
A Pacific Aluminium spokesman said: "This is a significant issue for our employees, the community of Nhulunbuy, traditional owners and the NT. We will advise our employees, the local community and other stakeholders of any decisions as soon as we are able to."
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