SA ‘well placed’ to meet mining demand

He was a guest speaker at a regional Port Lincoln summit, organised by Civil Contractors Federation of SA.

He said the Eyre Peninsula was a world-class location for quality iron ore.

One of the projects looking to capitalise on these deposits is Iron Road.

Iron Road Ltd recently submitted a mining lease application and supporting mining lease proposal to the SA Department of State Development and an environmental impact statement to the SA Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, all in relation to its Central Eyre Iron Project.

The documents provide social, economic and environmental information, including impacts and benefits assessments, in relation to Iron Road's proposed mining and processing operations within mineral claim 4383 at Warramboo.

The documents also outline the infrastructure required to support mining, ore processing and then transport of the iron concentrate to market.

The infrastructure includes a deep sea port at Cape Hardy, a railway line connecting the mine and port, power transmission line, borefield and a long-term employee village to accommodate mine site employees during operations.

"The company has set up a framework where they can be competitive, no matter where the iron ore price might be," Dr Heithersay said.

Dr Heithersay said one of the good things about mining projects being touted for the EP was they were long-term operations.

"We're talking about 20, 30, 50-year projects," he said.

"Once they are up and running, they will be there for a long time."

He said the mining projects would have spin-off effects on EP districts, through spending in the local community.

"Mining has a big multiplier effect - one job in the mine generates two jobs outside of the mine," Heithersay said.

He said SA was a rich source of minerals.

"SA has 68 per cent of Australia's copper, 81pc of its uranium, 28pc of its gold and 714 billion tonnes of iron ore," he said.

Iron Road's Central Eyre Iron project is looking to tap into a 4.5bt resource, making it Australia's largest magnetite deposit.

"We need to remember it's not just a mine that's being planned with the Iron Road project, it's a rail corridor and deep-water port," Dr Heithersay said.

"The port will be less than 10 per cent of the total cost of the project, the actual mine is the main cost.

"So the main thing with the project is making sure you've got a buyer for the iron ore."

Dr Heithersay said the next major frontier for mining in SA was on the border with WA, an area bountiful with resources.

Copper was another growing area for the mining sector.

"We're producing 300,000t of copper in SA at the moment, and our goal is to get up to 1mt of copper by 2030," he said.

"That would mean $6 to $7 billion worth of production, in addition to what we've already got now.

"That would put SA as the third largest copper producer in the world, behind Chile and Peru."