to approx. $200 million. Export products are sold into the agriculture, chemical and refractory industries. Sibelco’s Magnesia Operations employs around 350 employees.
• An annual $50.5 Million worth of cattle and calves processed in the Livingstone Shire Council area is the largest proportion of the $72.2 Million worth of annual agricultural production in the Shire.
• Eco-tourism ventures along the Capricorn Coast include accommodation and rainforest tours in the pristine Byfield township, north of Yeppoon, with nearby national park and state forest. Wetland Tours at Mercure Capricorn Resort (owned by Iwasaki Sangyo P/L), caving adventures and paleontological tours at Capricorn Caves, four wheel driving to Five Rocks and Nine Mile Beach in the national park, are all part of the eco-tourism portfolio of the Capricorn Coast.
• $6.2 Million worth of Pineapples makes up the majority of the annual $7.6 Million total fruit production which also includes Mangoes, Lychees and other Orchard fruit. The shire produces 98.4 % of the entire Fitzroy region’s pineapples and 12.4% of Queensland’s annual production. • Pasture, cereal and other crops cut for hay, account for $2.7 Million annual production. • $3.8 Million in vegetables is produced which accounts for 40.4% of the annual production in the greater Fitzroy region. • Nurseries, cut flowers and cultivated turf account for $2.2 Million annually.
• There is opportunity for the exotic fruit farms and accommodation operators to partner in delivering eco-tourism tours, particularly with the expansion of the coast’s tourism industry with the realisation of major integrated resort developments by Iwasaki Sangyo Company (Mercure Capricorn Resort) and Tower Holdings (Great Keppel Island Resort Revitalisation).
• Livingstone’s lychees accounts for 54.8% of the greater Fitzroy region’s and 5.8% of Queensland’s annual production.
• Livingstone Shire Council has prepared a draft Strategic Framework to accompany a new Planning Scheme for Livingstone Shire. The Framework and the Queensland Planning Provisions state that there is a category for major tourism and minor tourism (QPP V 3.0). Council will be identifying major tourism nodes within the local government planning scheme area.
• Koorana Crocodile Farm at Coowonga on the Capricorn Coast has 3,000 crocodiles, selling high quality product in Australia as well as exporting to the USA, Japan and Europe. Koorana is a working farm open to visitors, also offering educational tour year round and is a major tourist attraction for the region.
• The International student market is Australia’s 4th largest export industry, but this is rarely recognised. Education is also a major export for the region; CQU has historically been one of the international student giants in Australia, and is today still one of the largest providers of education to international students.
• Sibelco Australia Ltd Magnesia Operations (QMAG) carries out its magnesite mining operations from two locations at Kunwarara. Approximately 3.5 million tonnes of ROM ore is mined annually from a 400+ million tonne resource to produce around 600,000 tonnes of beneficiated magnesite per annum. Magnesite is transported to Sibelco’s Parkhurst facility to produce almost 300,000 tonnes of calcined, deadburned and fused magnesia generating revenues up
• International students studying with James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville travel annually to Great Keppel Island to conduct research on the Southern Great Barrier Reef.
• Milk is $3.3 Million annually and is 36.7% of the entire Fitzroy region’s annual production.
CAPRICORN COAST & LIVINGSTONE REGION
Internationally Competitive
• There are 496 businesses registered in Livingstone Shire in agriculture, forestry and fishing which represents 17.1%, the second highest number of all businesses registered.
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