Hon Robin Chapple asks about the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission's (GEDC) position on re-routing the Trans Australian Railway line to facilitate mining expansion near Kalgoorlie, and the Minister responds with details of the Portlink project and its potential impact on rail alignment.

AnsweredQoN 4194Legislative Council
Asked
26 May 2011
Portfolio
Regional Development

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to the proposed Lucknow, Phar lap, Milanese, Reward Ore body (ROB) open cuts, the Westralia Lode gold mineralization, the gold resources known as Mt Gleddon, Hidden Treasure, Fairplay, Red White and Blue, Sons of Gwalia, Charlotte Fault and Golden Dream located close to the Trans Australian Railway line some of which are shown on the attached map drawn conceptually by myself from KCGM and other information located at
http://www.robinchapple.com/qdata
‘Gold reserves.pdf’ in the vicinity of the Mt Charlotte/Cassidy mining operations owned by Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining managed by KCGM, and the Goldfields Esperance Region 2010-2020 Strategic Plan produced by the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission(GEDC), and ask -
(1) Does the GEDC and the Minister recognize the critical importance of removing the railway line referred to above on the conceptual map from its current location as part of the Portlink project referred to by the GEDC which will then facilitate the proposed mining of the proposed Lucknow, Pharlap, Milanese, ROB, Open cuts and the Hidden Treasure, Mt Gleddon, Fairplay, Hidden Secret, Westralia Lode gold mineralization in the near vicinity of the Trans Australian Railway line providing for approximately another 10-20 years of open cut mining giving enormous confidence to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community?
(2) If no to (1), why?
(3) If yes to (2), can the Minister explain the rationale as to how he appreciates the critical importance?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
10 August 2011
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Regional Development
Response time
76 days
(1) The Goldfields Esperance Development Commission (GEDC) does not have a definitive position in respect of removing the railway line. The Department for Planning and Infrastructure 2002 Rail Re-alignment Report considered a number of options and costs thereof.
(2) Not applicable
(3) The importance of the Portlink project to the State Government, has been shown in the 2011-12 State Budget with an allocation of $5 million in Royalties for Regions to investigate and undertake detailed planning to link the ports of Oakajee, Port Hedland, Kwinana/Perth and Esperance with the Eastern States through road and rail corridors with strategic intermodal freight logistics hub constructed in Kalgoorlie. This project includes a potential new rail alignment around Kalgoorlie, which may align with the needs and expansion of the open cut mining operations in Kalgoorlie.  The investigation and planning for the project will be delivered through the Department of Transport and the Minister for Transport over the next two years 2011-12 to 2012-13.
Once the planning is completed and all information is provided to Government in relation to the costs of implementing the Port Link project, a proposal will be submitted to State Cabinet for consideration and approval to proceed.
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