Description
Snapshot of the Mining Export Infrastructure 2010 Current Environment
The findings of the first ever audit of Australia s critical minerals export chain suggest that Australia s export infrastructure has suffered a cancer of neglect and is in a critical state of inadequacy, according to Minerals Council of Australia s (MCA) executive officer Mitchell Hooke.
Australian Journal of Mining (AJM), June 2009
The Situation
For the past 5-10years, the mining industry within Australia has been facing export delays due to bottlenecks within the rail supply chain and capacity constraints at major ports. This creates an inability in the mining supply chain to match the rate at which mining producers extract minerals and meet their contract tonnages.
The Challenges
Like most industries, the Global Financial Crisis has affected the mining industry, with public infrastructure project funding placed under question and private funding for infrastructure at an all-time squeeze.
The Objective
Addressing and ensuring these bottlenecks within mining export infrastructure are a priority, will mean that Australia is well positioned, as the global economy recovers, to take advantage of the many opportunities and benefits that will emerge.