AUSTRALIA: The Northern Territory government has committed A$1m to undertake a feasibility study for the construction of a 600 km line from Tennant Creek, NT, to Mount Isa in Queensland. The study is expected to take two years to complete.
The east-west link connecting the Alice Springs – Darwin line with the Mount Isa – Townsville route would open up an export corridor from the Queensland seaboard to the north coast port, as well as serving mineral reserves in the region such as phosphates.
NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said that the line ‘would be a long-term project with a price tag in excess of a billion dollars’, but it is also ‘a project of national significance and the Australian government will be asked to match this funding in line with its commitment to developing the north.’
