PM607 Strategic Risk Management

Assessment 2 Scenario Brief Project Iron Boomerang

Project Iron Boomerang

The Australian East West Line & Global Smelting Parks Project

Brief Description
Project Iron Boomerang (PIB) was generated from the recognition that:

The world demand for steel will increase;

Australias share of world wide steel production has diminished;
Australia is a leading exporter of quality iron ore and coking coal, the two main raw
materials needed for efficient steel production;
Australias coal resources are based on the east coast in Queensland, and iron ore resources
are based on the west coast in Western Australia;
As the boom in iron ore and coal production in Australia decreased, there is a need to create
replacement employment;
The efficiency of steel production world-wide is reduces by the extensive one-way transport
of raw materials and steel products where, after off-load of trains and ships they return
empty for the next load.

PIB endeavours to overcome the distance between the east and west coast of Australia and
overcome the inefficiencies described above, by:

Establish steel smelters at both Abbot Point on the Queensland coast, and Newman in
Western Australia. Both will produce steel slab and billet.
Build a standard gauge heavy haul rail line between Abbot Point and Newman that will
transport iron ore from the west to the smelter at Abbot Point, and return haul coking coal
from Moranbah coal hub in Queensland, to the smelter at Newman.
The smelters will both produce equal amounts of plate and billet which will be exported via
new/ upgraded facilities at Port Headland in WA and Abbot Point in Queensland.
The exported steel will be transported by specially designed ships that which will operate at
minimal cost as the plate and billet can be placed in holds with minimal wasted space, and
the ships have the capacity to return containers back to Australia on the return journey, and
off-load them at various ports.
Due to the economies available, the project is viable and doesnt require financial support
from any level of government.
The project is predicted to add 8% to the 2013 GDP of US$1.5billion.

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PM607 Strategic Risk Management

Assessment 2 Scenario Brief Project Iron Boomerang

A study predicts 35,000 directly related permanent jobs will result with 20,000 at Abbot
Point, 12,000 at Newman, and the rest around the country. 75,000 peak construction jobs
are predicted during the seven to eight year construction period.

See the Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 Project map

The Concept
The first stage is proposed to utilise six modularised standard steel mill units in each of the two
industrial precincts (Newman Fortescue River Valley and Abbot Point). Each of the units is capable of
producing 3.6 Mt/a of steel product.
Other features include:

The smelting parks will be linked by a new (40t axle loading) heavy haul HH inland eastwest railway line of over 3,300 kilometres and connect to the existing rail line supply
systems. PIB trains will effectively run inland direct from the mine sites direct to the
smelters, in the majority of cases for only one to two logistics handlings.

The project links Australias great export iron ore, coking coal and energy coal mines.

The project can also utilise the globally sustainable and abundant natural gases available
(coal seam methane gas in Queensland and natural gas in Western Australia)

Adequate identified quality sustainable water supply exists at both precinct sites.

The unique back-freight HH Rail payload each way is more efficient than shipping.

This is represented by Figure 2.

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PM607 Strategic Risk Management

Assessment 2 Scenario Brief Project Iron Boomerang

Figure 2 Project Diagrammatic

Current status
The project is currently in the feasibility stage and the proponents are seeking support from various
levels of government. The project has technical and financial support from major consortia in
Australia and overseas.
A branch feeding off the Moranbah hub to support the Galilee and Alpha coal basins has also been
investigated. See Figure 3. This would help support the 40Mt/a of coking coal needed for Stage 1.

Scenario resources
There is well over 1000 pages of technical and economic detail studies that have been completed.
This is well in excess of what is needed for this assessment.
Four documents that will be helpful to all teams are:
1.
2.
3.
4.

This briefing document

The Australian East West Line and Global 1st Stage Iron & Steel Complex Parks Brief (7 pages)
Submission to the Senate Enquiry into the development of Northern Australia (28 pages)
The briefing presentation during the Week 5 lecture

Additional information will be provided to support some of the selected components.

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PM607 Strategic Risk Management

Assessment 2 Scenario Brief Project Iron Boomerang
Figure 3 Possible Galilee Coal Basin Rail Corridor

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