Queensland Bauxite negotiating with AID for development of NSW reserves

Australian mining company Queensland Bauxite has opened negotiations with Australian Infrastructure Developments (AID) to explore options for the transport of the former’s bauxite production in New South Wales.

AID, a freight project developer, is proposing to build a national freight infrastructure connecting the country’s western inland corridor at Moree to Glen Innes, where it would link up with the Great Northern Railway. From Glen Innes, the line would proceed to the Port of Yamba. Queensland Bauxite’s New South Wales bauxite tenement is nearly adjacent to the proposed location of AID’s new line.

Yesterday Queensland Bauxite indicated that the Pacific West link proposed by AID would likely make the New South Wales bauxite operation economically viable.

In addition, Queensland Bauxite informed shareholders recently that the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines was close to assessing an application for a license to begin mineral development at the firm’s main operation at South Johnstone.

The application process was longer than anticipated, the company said, but the license would help the company determine whether or not it was ready to begin operating on the global bauxite market in the near term.

South Johnstone is about 150 square miles and is expected to yield between 193 million metric tons and 405 million metric tons of bauxite. According to a recent study, the site would require an investment of US$3.66 million to produce 800,000 metric tons per annum at an operating cost of US$14.87 per metric ton. The site’s yearly gross revenue is expected to be US$30.1 million and an internal rate of return of 223 per cent.

Queensland Bauxite Limited, based in Bondi, New South Wales, seeks high quality gibbsitic bauxite with a low reactive silica content, and has interests in the North Queensland Bauxite Project, the New South Wales Bauxite Project, Mozambique exploration licenses, and the Pilbara Gold Project, among others.