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20 Prospect December 2003–February 2004 south west � Strong signals about nickel and Ravensthorpe Proponent praised: Department of Industry and Resources project manager Ross Guyton (centre), pictured with other DoIR staff members during the exploration phase of the Ravensthorpe nickel project, has praised the way BHP Billiton has presented its case to develop the project. After years of uncertainty following ownership changes, and then diligent assessment by BHP Billiton, the A$1.4 billion Ravensthorpe Nickel Project, near the south coast of Western Australia, is now close to being evaluated for its investment potential. In a climate of soaring nickel prices and strong demand for stainless steel by commodity-hungry countries like China, there appears to be every incentive for BHP Billiton to endorse a go-ahead for this worldscale project. In 2003, the price of nickel has nearly doubled to over US$11 000 a tonne, and Macquarie Bank’s senior commodity analyst Jim Lennon has forecast that it could go beyond US$20 000 over the next few years, as it did in the late 1980s. With hindsight of price volatility, and difficulties experienced by the first generation of Western Australian lateritic nickel projects in the late 1990s, the Ravensthorpe project has been subjected to a most rigorous assessment process by BHP Billiton. Since May 2000, extensive trial mining and pilot-scale testing have been carried out to first identify the preferred process (Enhanced Pressure Acid Leach), and then prove technical aspects of the project. BHP Billiton has, in fact, spent about A$70 million on this proving phase, with encouraging results being aired by the company during presentations in late September 2003. The company’s final feasibility study is due to be completed late in 2003. A report will then be prepared for a BHP Billiton board meeting in March 2004 at which, according to recent company announcements, an investment decision is expected to be made. The project has two components — development of a new lateritic nickel mine and processing plant at Ravensthorpe, and expansion of existing refining capacity in northern Queensland. It is proposed that the Yabulu nickel refinery near Townsville will be expanded to accept an intermediate nickel product from Ravensthorpe known as mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP). This nickel and cobalt concentrate product will be shipped in containers from Esperance to Townsville at a rate of about 220 000 tonnes per year. The combined capital cost of both the Ravensthorpe and Yabulu operations will be in the order of A$1.8 billion. The Ravensthorpe project received State environmental approval in September 2003 following a review under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act, and has been Arecent visit by Seipem’s massive semisubmersible pipelaying barge, Semac 1, to the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) at Cockburn Sound, near Perth, has given the facility an early psychological boost. The four-week visit in September and October, for a special pipe jointing exercise and maintenance pit-stop ahead of pipelaying on the Minerva gasfield in Bass Strait, was the first major resource-related undertaking at the AMC since the facility began taking in work in June. Semac 1 sailed into Cockburn Sound after being involved in pipe laying for a second offshore trunkline between Dampier and the two main gas production platforms for the North West Shelf project (North Rankin A and Goodwyn A). During its port-of-call stopover at Cockburn Sound, some 800 lengths of 12 metre carbon steel and 120 lengths of 12 metre duplex steel pipe were double jointed and placed in storage racks aboard Semac 1. As well, two two-inch chemical flow lines and an umbilical connection for the Minerva gas production platform in Bass Strait to the mainland in western Victoria were spooled and made ready for deployment. Intricate pipework for tie-ins associated with the Minerva project were processed in a hired-out section of the common-user fabrication hall in the middle of the AMC compound at Cockburn Sound. One of the main purposes of the AMC is to generate greater levels of local content in marine and resource-related projects. During the Semac 1 visit, about 80 local welders and pipe fitters found work, resulting in an the subject of extensive community consultation by BHP Billiton. This process was started by Comet Resources from the mid- 1990s to about mid- 2000, when the ownership structure began to change. Department of Industry and Resources project manager Ross Guyton, who has been closely associated with the Ravensthorpe Nickel Project for over three years, said he was greatly impressed with the way BHP Billiton had presented its development case to various stakeholders, including fence-line neighbours. “As a result of its open approach, BHP Billiton has developed a strong level of goodwill with local consultative groups, as well as the shires of Ravensthorpe and Esperance, the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission and other government agencies that had been involved,” Mr Guyton said. Australian Marine Complex Semac 1 visit could be the tip of the iceberg for AMC Port of call visit: the giant pipe laying barge Semac 1 during its recent stay at Cockburn Sound. estimated A$5–6 million worth of business being injected into the local economy. Business Development Manager for facility manager JBFM Babcock, Richard Clark, described the barge’s visit as a promising early sign of things to come for the AMC. “We are hoping this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that many more big vessels and projects of this type can be attracted to the AMC.” Other work on the horizon includes: • A six months lease on the main fabrication hall by Cryeng Pty Ltd to build the cryogenic tanks for the Kwinana HIsmelt project; and • Final assembly and loadout of Apache Energy’s Linda production platform. In early October, virtually every building at the AMC was being used, including one by US defence technology contractor, Raytheon.
BHP Billiton says that since July 2000, it has spent more than A$8 million within the shires of Ravensthorpe and Esperance on various aspects of its studies. If the project proceeds to development, it will generate up to 1000 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs once the mine and process plant are up and running in late 2006. About 100 of the employees new to the region are expected to be located at Hopetoun, and another 100 in Esperance. The balance of the workforce is expected to be engaged locally. Additional employment opportunities are expected in Ravensthorpe and Esperance through support industries, such as new services in Ravensthorpe, additional long-distance haulage capacity and increased activity at the Port of Esperance. Until the 2003 mid-year completion of the A$200 million AMC common-user facility, work such as that associated with the Semac 1 would have gone to shipyards in Singapore and other places in the South East Asia region. One of the most exciting maritime activity clusters in the Asia–Pacific region, the AMC promises to deliver significant value-adding opportunities for Western Australian industry, and also good value for organisations seeking support services for the offshore petroleum industry, the onshore resources industry, plus defence and marine services sectors. “The beauty of this place is that companies don’t have to make large capital investments to come here,” said JBFM Babcock’s Richard Clark. “Our facility offers great flexibility, and has the advantage of being surrounded by a host of supporting industries. Visitors can pay a fee and stay for however long it takes to complete a job.” Saipem Technical Superintendent, Frank Von Tilborg, was complimentary about the service afforded to him and Semac 1’s 200 crew members during the vessel’s visit. “Things are a bit different here than Singapore. However, we were impressed with the facilities at the AMC — plenty of space, good supplies of potable water, good ship-to-shore communication systems, goods support services and good security.” Centrepiece of the AMC’s common-user facility is Australia’s largest mobile assembly hall, a 4800 square metre shed that is designed to travel up to 80 metres on an east–west traverse. Highly adaptable for multi-purpose fabrication, assembly and loadout work, and suitable for overlapping projects, the hall design incorporates extensive portal and gantry crane systems with 30 metre, under-hook capacity of 200 tonnes. Other important features include two wharfs, one 350 metre-long marine services wharf (which Semac 1 used), and a smaller 3000 tonne loadout wharf that is 200 metres long. Assured water supplies for the Burrup “Water, water everywhere … nor any drop to drink” are the famous words that British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) wove into his classic The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. A couple of centuries later, the same words must have rung in the ears of planners aiming to establish a world-class gas processing precinct on the strategically important Burrup Peninsula in northwest Western Australia. However, the Western Australian Government has addressed this by injecting A$80 million worth of infrastructure into a program to ensure an efficient long-term water supply for industry in the area. Part of the State Government’s A$137 million infrastructure package, the water supply system comprises a A$60 million seawater scheme and a A$20 million desalination plant servicing the Burrup Peninsula’s foundation ammonia producer, Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd. Earthworks for the ammonia plant, the first of potentially five petrochemical industries on the Burrup, commenced last May. Production is due to start at a rate of 760 000 tonnes of liquid ammonia per annum from the second quarter of 2005. Site works for the seawater scheme commenced in July 2003, including preparation for the desalination plant — the biggest thermal seawater desalination plant in Australia. Water Corporation project manager Graham Tresidder said the project was progressing to schedule, and on track for completion in September 2004. The seawater scheme includes: • A 4.2 km large-diameter seawater supply pipeline, a seawater pump station, filtration facilities, a control tank, and a 33 kV power network; • A return brine disposal pipeline paralleling the seawater supply pipeline, a break tank, plus a 1.3 km ocean outfall facility on the west side of the Burrup Peninsula; and • A mechanical vapour compression (MVC) desalination plant, to be built within the Burrup Fertilisers complex. The Burrup Fertilisers site requires 62 million litres (ML) per day of seawater from November 2004 to meet the demand of its seawater cooling towers and the desalination plant. Seawater pipeline route Brine pipeline route Note: Pipeline route shown comprises two pipelines approximately one metre apart and an overhead powerline Dampier Public Wharf Woodside Supply Base Proposed brine outlet site Proposed seawater intake site King Bay Woodside gas plant Dampier Nitrogen Desalination Plant Former Syntroleum Site Burrup Fertilisers Desalination Desalination Plant Withnell Bay Liquigaz Former Methanex Site Japan DME NORTH 0 1000 metres The desalination plant — to be built, owned and operated by the Water Corporation of Western Australia under a commercial agreement with Burrup Fertilisers — will be capable of producing 3.6 ML of desalinated water a day. This is not large by world standards — some plants in the Middle East are up to 20 times bigger. However, the seawater desalination plant is big by Australian standards. In fact, most of the seawater desalination plants around Australia are associated with tourism and are quite small by comparison. For example, the plant on Rottnest Island produces only 200 kL/d while most of those on resort islands off the Queensland coast have a capacity of around 600 kL/d. In New South Wales, a desalination plant used to polish re-cycled “blow down” water for steam generation for the Bayswater Power Station produces around 30 ML/d. However, the volume of raw seawater to be made available for industries on the Burrup is quite substantial. The seawater scheme has a design capacity of 280 ML of water per day, which is about 20% of the daily peak summer potable water demand for Perth. That is equivalent to the volume of about 7000 standard backyard swimming pools per day. Prospect December 2003–February 2004 21 Hearson Cove
Page 1 and 2: Print post approved PP 665002/00062
Page 3 and 4: 2 GORGON GAS In what’s shaping up
Page 5 and 6: Great stainless steel opportunity f
Page 7 and 8: South West Geraldton q PERTH Bunbur
Page 10 and 11: Peak potential looms for Kemerton I
Page 12 and 13: The power of biomass Residue from a
Page 14 and 15: 12 Prospect December 2003-February
Page 16 and 17: Environmental excellence Beenup con
Page 18 and 19: Saving energy with cogeneration Cog
Page 20 and 21: Blue gums: a growing market, with s
Page 24 and 25: The magic of oil 50th anniversary o
Page 26 and 27: Iron ore Hamersley heralds a A$1.25
Page 28 and 29: Chart 1: Global Sharemarkets to end
Page 30: Price A$/t FOB Price A$/t FOB Price
Page 33 and 34: Committed Projects as at 4 November
Page 35 and 36: Projects under consideration as at
Page 37: As at December 2003 INSET B u u ! !

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