AUSTRALIA: ABC factory expansion bid

THE expansion of Adelaide Brighton Cement’s Birkenhead plant will be bigger than originally flagged to include measures for reducing dust.

The company last week announced it would forge ahead with plans for a $60 million expansion, including a new cement mill to increase production capacity by about 50 per cent, or 750,000 tonnes a year.

The development will also include an upgrade of the company’s shiploading area to reduce dust.

Sheds will be built for stockpiles of gypsum at the Victoria Rd plant’s southern end, with an additional conveyor system to carry the raw material around the site.

The new mill will be built on the Port River wharf side of the plant and completed by early 2013, subject to approval from Port Adelaide Enfield Council and the Environment Protection Authority.

ABC said there would be no additional emissions from its chimney stack as a result of the expansion because it would not fire more limestone. Instead it would use products it had previously exported to increase production at the mill.

Operations manager Vince Aurora said the development would “deliver a net improvement on the plant’s overall environmental performance”.

“The design and construction of the new cement mill and ship loading facility will use the best available dust collection technology,” Mr Aurora said.

The company flagged it was looking to increase its production capacity last August, estimating a new mill would cost $40-$50 million. At the time, some Birkenhead residents said they feared an increase in dust, noise and vibrations if the expansion went ahead.

ABC was named in an EPA report last year, which raised concerns about air pollution from industry around the Port. The report led to the stalling of the Dock One stage of the Newport Quays residential development.

But the company and the EPA maintain it is operating within its licence conditions.

Last week’s announcement came as ABC’s parent company Adelaide Brighton posted a net profit of $151.5 million for 2010, up 23 per cent on the previous year.

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ABC will deliver a presentation on the project at the next meeting of its community liaison group at the Port Adelaide Town Hall, on Monday, March 7, at 7pm.