QRC welcomes Rio Tinto's first shipment from Cape York Amrun mine

THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has congratulated Rio Tinto after the company’s Amrun project on Cape York made its first shipment of bauxite more than a month ahead of schedule.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the $2.6 billion project was a leading example of a resource company working with local communities and suppliers while delivering on targets.

“First shipment six weeks ahead of schedule is a great achievement for Rio Tinto which is a big part of the Far North economy and communities,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Rio’s commitment to hiring locally was demonstrated with 1,200 people employed at peak construction, and since project inception in May 2016, close to 400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been employed by the project.”

More than 80,000 tonnes of bauxite is bound for Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone after a ceremony attended by local Wik-Waya Traditional Owners and representatives of the Western Cape Communities Co-existence Agreement (WCCCA). The company says Amrun is expected to reach a full production rate of 22.8 million tonnes a year by 2019.

“Bauxite is one of the building blocks of the modern economy, used to produce aluminium, which goes into everything from soft drink cans in your fridge to frames for solar panels on your roof,” he said.

QRC’s own economic data for the 2017-18 financial year showed the resources sector is a significant investor in the State’s economy and local communities.

“From Toowoomba in the south to Weipa in the north the resource sector contributed to 1,260 community organisations which is an increase of 38 percent on the previous year and in the Far North region the sector contributed $959 million to the economy and supported 6,291 full time jobs,” he said.

QRC is the peak representative body for Queensland ‘s resource sector. The Queensland resources sector provides one in every five dollars in the Queensland economy, sustains one in eight Queensland jobs, and supports more than 15,400 businesses and community organisations across the state, all from 0.1 percent of Queensland’s land mass.

www.qrc.org.au

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