Chapter 4 – Project Location
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CHAPTER 4 – PROJECT LOCATION GULF ALUMINA LTD – SKARDON RIVER BAUXITE PROJECT Skardon River Bauxite Project Chapter 4 – Project Location TABLE OF CONTENTS 4. Project Location .............................................................................. 4-1 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................4-1 4.2 State and Regional Context .................................................................................4-1 4.2.1 The Cape York Peninsula ............................................................................................ 4-1 4.2.2 Native Title Parties ..................................................................................................... 4-1 4.2.3 Cape York Regional Plan Area .................................................................................... 4-2 4.2.4 Regional Projects and Infrastructure ......................................................................... 4-2 4.2.5 Local Government Areas ............................................................................................ 4-5 4.3 Local Context ................................................................................................... 4-12 4.3.1 Project Mining Tenures ............................................................................................ 4-12 4.3.2 Nearby, Adjacent and Overlapping Mining and Petroleum Tenures ....................... 4-12 4.3.3 Project Study Area Boundary ................................................................................... 4-13 4.3.4 Real Property Tenures (and Overlapping Native Title Claim Areas) ........................ 4-17 4.3.5 Native Title (Local Context) ...................................................................................... 4-17 4.3.6 Sensitive Receptors (Human Receptors) .................................................................. 4-21 4.4 Project Area Layout and Infrastructure ............................................................. 4-23 4.4.1 Overview of Infrastructure and Activities ................................................................ 4-23 4.5 Natural Features .............................................................................................. 4-27 4.5.1 Geology, Topography and Soils ................................................................................ 4-27 4.5.2 Skardon River Bathymetry ....................................................................................... 4-27 4.5.3 Watercourses, Drainages and Wetlands .................................................................. 4-27 4.5.4 Vegetation ................................................................................................................ 4-27 Tables Table 4-1 Nearby, Adjacent and Overlapping Tenure .............................................................. 4-12 Table 4-2 Real Property – Land Parcels Underlying or Adjacent to the Project Area .............. 4-17 Table 4-3 Native Title Claims .................................................................................................... 4-17 Figures Figure 4-1 Project Location – State and Regional Context .......................................................... 4-7 Figure 4-2 Natural Features in the Region .................................................................................. 4-8 Figure 4-3 Traditional Owners in the Region ............................................................................... 4-9 Figure 4-4 RPI Act Interests ....................................................................................................... 4-10 Figure 4-5 Regional Infrastructure ............................................................................................ 4-11 Figure 4-6 Gulf Alumina’s Mining Leases and Other Tenements .............................................. 4-14 Figure 4-7 Overlapping or Surrounding Mining Leases ............................................................. 4-15 Figure 4-8 Overlapping or Surrounding Exploration Permit for Minerals Tenures ................... 4-16 Figure 4-9 Land Parcels Underlying and Adjacent the Project Area ......................................... 4-19 Figure 4-10 Native Title Underlying and Adjacent the Project Area ........................................... 4-20 Figure 4-11 Sensitive Receptor .................................................................................................... 4-22 Figure 4-12 Offshore Transhipment Location ............................................................................. 4-24 Figure 4-13 Life of Project Activities and Infrastructure ............................................................. 4-25 Figure 4-14 Life of Project Resource Areas for Mining ................................................................ 4-26 Page 4-i Skardon River Bauxite Project Chapter 4 – Project Location Figure 4-15 Natural Features and Topography (Local Context) .................................................. 4-28 Figure 4-16 Bathymetry of the Skardon River ............................................................................. 4-29 Figure 4-17 Watercourses, Drainage Lines and Wetlands in Study Area .................................... 4-30 Figure 4-18 RE Vegetation (Local Context) .................................................................................. 4-31 Page 4-ii Skardon River Bauxite Project Chapter 4 – Project Location 4. PROJECT LOCATION 4.1 Introduction This chapter describes the location of the Project and all associated infrastructure in a state, regional and local context. The Project area is defined as the Project’s three mining leases (MLs), ML 40069, ML 40082 and ML 6025. The Project activity areas are the Project area and all activities in the marine environment. 4.2 State and Regional Context 4.2.1 The Cape York Peninsula The Project area is located on the western side of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula, approximately 90 km north of Weipa. The State and regional Project location is shown Figure 4-1. The Cape York Peninsula is an extremely eroded, almost level, low plain dominated by meandering rivers and floodplains. The regional landscape, historical development, opportunities and social aspects are strongly influenced by the climate which is tropical monsoonal and has distinct wet and dry seasons. The west coast of the peninsula borders the Gulf of Carpentaria and the east coast borders the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The GBR is a UNESCO World Heritage Area1 and is the world’s most extensive coral reef ecosystem covering an area of 348,000 km2 The Wet Tropics of Queensland UNESCO World Heritage Area2 is located along the northeast coast of Australia (including the Cape York Peninsula) covering approximately 8,900 km2 of tropical rainforest. There are no Ramsar3 wetlands in or around the Cape York Peninsula, the closest is Bowling Green Bay around 20 km southeast of Townsville. The Peninsula Ridge, (part of Australia’s Great Dividing Range) runs in a north-south alignment along most of the length of Cape York Peninsula. Catchments to the west of The Peninsula Ridge (from north to south respectively) are the Jardine, Ducie- Jackson-Skardon (within which the Project is located), Wenlock, Embley-Mission, Watson, Archer-Coen, Holroyd-Kendall and the Coleman-Edward draining into the Gulf of Carpentaria (or the Torres Strait in the case of the Jardine catchment).4 To the east of The Peninsula Ridge (from north to south) are the Jacky Jacky, Olive-Pascoe, Lochart, Stewart, Normanby, Jeannie, Endeavour, Daintree and Mossman catchments draining into the Coral Sea (or the Torres Strait in the case of the Jacky Jacky catchment). Rivers and sub basin catchments are described in more detail Chapter 12. Natural Features in the region are shown in Figure 4-2. 4.2.2 Native Title Parties The Native Title parties in the region are shown in Figure 4-3. 1 Reference: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154 2 Reference: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/486 3 Reference: http://www.ramsar.org/ 4 Reference: http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/brochures/daintree/map.shtml Page 4-1 Skardon River Bauxite Project Chapter 4 – Project Location 4.2.3 Cape York Regional Plan Area Regional Councils in the Cape York Peninsula are shown in Figure 4-1. The Project is located in the Cape York Regional Plan (CYRP) area. The CYRP area covers approximately 128,880 km2, with an estimated residential population of around 17,000 (at 30 June 2011)5. The CYRP provides direction to address competing state interests relating to economic development, agriculture and the resources sectors, the protection of significant environmental areas, and the growth potential of the region’s towns through the establishment of regional land use categories used to signal the appropriateness of areas in the region for development opportunities. The categories are as follows: . Strategic Environmental Areas (SEAs) and Designated Precincts are areas that contain regionally significant values for biodiversity, cultural values, water catchments and/or ecological function. The closest SEA and Designated Precinct to the Project is the Cape York SEA, which is located 20 km to the southwest of the Project at the convergence of the Wenlock and Ducie Rivers south east of Mapoon. National Parks and Regional Parks under the provisions of the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NC Act) are recognised for their protection of the region’s natural and cultural resources. Development and activities in national