Freightlink offers to run gold trains to Darwin

<p>Copper and gold from Oxiana’s proposed Prominent Hill mine in South Australia could be railed north for export from Darwin instead of through Adelaide, under a proposal by Freightlink.</p> <p>Oxiana’s board is expected to approve the $530m project later this month, with a production target of up to 100,000 tonnes of copper and 120,000 ounces of gold concentrate each year, starting in the second half of 2008. </p> <p>Freightlink is competing with rail operators Genesee &#38 Wyoming Australia and Pacific National for the haulage contract.</p> <p>Prominent Hill is about 650 km northwest of Adelaide, or about 800 km north of Port Adelaide by rail. </p> <p>Freightlink has proposed hauling the concentrate about 2,200 km north to Darwin, with the likelihood that Oxiana might agree to supply the bulk of its production to Asian smelters.</p> <p>If Oxiana agrees to Freightlink’s proposal it would become the second mining company to use the Adelaide to Darwin line to export from the port of Darwin. </p> <p>In April, Freightlink began operating two trains each week from OM Manganese’s Bootu Creek mine near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.</p> <p>Exports of the manganese ore through Darwin are expected to reach 600,000 tonnes each year by 2007. </p> <p>Territory Iron is also looking to use the rail line to move its iron ore when production from its Frances Creek mine begins in the next two years.</p> <p>Regardless of which way Oxiana chooses to send its production, the company still needs to build about 120 km of road for trucks to take the concentrate to a siding on the Adelaide-Darwin line at Wirrida.</p> <p>A new loader would need to be built at Wirrida.</p> <p>The company last month committed $33m into capital works on the mine.</p> <p>Oxiana reported strong gains in its overall production for the first quarter of 2006, with analysts suggesting it could quadruple its profits from $80.3m in 2005, to about $320m this year. </p> <br />