Port Spencer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Port SpencerSouth Australia |
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 Port Spencer
Location in South Australia
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| Postcode(s) | 5607 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 15 m (49 ft) | ||||||||
| Location | 65 km (40 mi) North of Port Lincoln | ||||||||
| LGA(s) | District Council of Tumby Bay | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Flinders | ||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Grey | ||||||||
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Port Spencer is a planned port project in South Australia. It is being built to help export grain from farms. The place where the port is being built used to be called Sheep Hill. It is located on the Lower Eyre Peninsula, right next to Lipson Cove, on the western side of Spencer Gulf.
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A Look Back: How Port Spencer Started
Port Spencer was first planned by a company called Centrex Metals. They wanted to use it to export iron ore. Iron ore is a rock that contains iron, which is used to make steel. This original project was called Sheep Hill.
Centrex Metals worked with a Chinese company, Wuhan Iron & Steel, on the iron ore project. But in 2016, they stopped working together.
Later, in 2018, a farming business group called Free Eyre became interested in the site. They decided to use the plans for Port Spencer to export grain instead of iron ore. Peninsula Ports Pty Ltd, a company owned by Free Eyre, is now in charge of the project. They have changed the design to focus only on grain export.
The people building the port hoped it would be ready for the harvest in 2021. The government of South Australia gave its approval for the project in August 2020. However, some local people were not happy about the approval. They felt the port was too close to Lipson Island Conservation Park. They also thought that the port might not make enough money just from exporting grain.
Where is Port Spencer?
The Port Spencer site is located between Lipson Cove and Rogers Beach. It is about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of the town of Tumby Bay.
The port could be connected to the Eyre Peninsula Railway by a 27-kilometre (17-mile) train line. This line would run from a place called Ungarra. The planned wharf, which is like a long pier where ships dock, will be about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) north of Lipson Island Conservation Park.
How Grain Will Be Moved
The current plan for Port Spencer is to bring grain to the port by truck. From there, the grain will be loaded directly onto large ships called Panamax vessels. This will happen using a single jetty that is 600 metres (about 2,000 feet) long. This long jetty will be held up by ten strong pillars.
The cost of building the port was estimated to be around $130 million Australian dollars. This was much less than earlier plans, which were estimated to cost $300–400 million. In 2019, the port developers asked the Australian government for $10 million to study if the project was possible. However, some people, like Senator Rex Patrick, thought it would be better to support another port project called Cape Hardy, which is less than ten kilometres (6 miles) north.
In 2020, the updated plans for Port Spencer were shared with the public for their comments. A mining expert named Gordon Toll joined the boards of Free Eyre and Peninsula Ports in February 2020. The port is expected to be finished by 2023.
Protecting the Environment
When Centrex Metals first planned the port for iron ore, they needed many environmental approvals. These approvals were needed from both the South Australian government and the Australian federal government.
The federal government asked Centrex Metals to show how they would protect two special animals that visit the area: the southern right whale and the fairy tern. These are both threatened species.
The original plan for Port Spencer was connected to another mining project called the Fusion Magnetite Project. That project also needed its own environmental approvals. When Free Eyre bought the Port Spencer site to build a grain port, they also took over the existing approvals that were given for the iron ore port.
Important Dates for Port Spencer
- January 6, 2011: The South Australian government gave the project "Major Project Status." This means it was seen as a very important development.
- June 1, 2011: Rules were set for the Public Environment Report, which is a document about how the project might affect the environment.
- March 9, 2012: The first part of the Public Environment Report was released.
- November 15, 2012: The federal government decided that their approval would also be needed.
- October 28, 2013: The federal government approved the first two stages of the project, but with certain conditions.
- December 14, 2015: The Chinese company, Wugang Australian Resources Investment, missed a payment of $4 million Australian dollars for the project.
- October 14, 2016: The partnership between Centrex Metals and the Chinese company ended.
- July 2017: The land bought for the Port Spencer project was put up for sale.
- June 2019: Free Eyre and Peninsula Ports bought the land.
- January–February 2020: Changes to the original Public Environment Report were made public for people to comment on.
Other Port Ideas
Another mining company, Iron Road Limited, has suggested building a new port at Cape Hardy. This site is about 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) northeast of Port Spencer. Andrew Stocks, the CEO of Iron Road, has said that probably only one new port will be built in the area.
Iron Road Limited looked at the Port Spencer site in 2010 but decided it was not suitable for their needs. In 2018, Tim Scholz told the Port Lincoln Times newspaper that they still did not see a good reason to switch from their Cape Hardy plan to the Port Spencer site.
Another port for exporting grain has already been built further north in Spencer Gulf, at Lucky Bay. It was expected to start exporting grain in the summer of 2020–2021.
