How will US mining companies access North West critical mining fields?
Fears a dilapidated runway will ground the economic powerhouse North West Minerals Province’s critical fly-in-fly-out workforce have been taken from Cloncurry to Canberra by Kennedy MHR Bob Katter in representations at the highest level for urgent government intervention.
Mr Katter said the iconic airport at Cloncurry, 1500km as the crow flies from Brisbane, fielded up to 1000 mining FIFO worker movements weekly to support the industry’s regrowth a century since the aerodrome’s historic establishment for the QANTAS mail service, expanding into the DC-3/Dakota aircraft requiring the tarmac’s last major upgrade in World War Two after Pearl Harbour’s bombing.
But the bitumen seal patch-up to reopen the North West Queensland mining gateway after the last cyclone’s major flood damage remains vulnerable to closure in the looming wet season – and the Cloncurry Shire Council bid to secure another $10 million for upgrades resilient to annual monsoons has been rejected by the Federal Government’s Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program.
With the council now warning the airport’s operational status could be downgraded in wet weather to restrict jet aircraft, amid recent reticence by Qantas pilots to take off in unseasonal rain ‘puddles’, Mr Katter said Mayor Greg Campbell was “dead right and I applaud his tenacity on this issue”.
“I am absolutely appalled and cannot believe that people in Canberra could be so stupid, given the whole of mining in the North West Minerals Province is dependent on that airport. The mining operations around Cloncurry are now very significant.
“I mean, the copper smelter at Mount Isa is being supplied by product out of the greater Cloncurry area. And there is no doubt the situation is very dangerous. That old pavement was built for DC3s – it was never, ever built to take the massive planes coming in now.”
With the rejection of Federal funding to double allocated Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements joint funding with the State Government for the project, Mr Katter has written to the Prime Minister to put the Government on notice that the major upgrades were “not a nice-to-have but a must-have”.
Mr Katter told the PM he had been “left with no choice but to contact you directly” after having already making “the strongest representations to the Ministers for lnfrastructure, Emergency Services and Local Government to try and resolve this issue”.
“And God help them if they don’t deliver because we’re sick of being forgotten out here,” he warned.
Mount Isa-based Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter has previously warned of fly-in-fly-out mining work forces weakening western Queensland, by not supporting local communities with new housing and infrastructure.
He said when mining was opened up in the Central Queensland coalfields in the 70’s and 80’s a condition of a mining permit set by the government was to build suitable accommodation by establishing townships within the mining district.
