EDITION No. 62
Thursday, December 9, 2021
STRIDING OUT: Denny Vernon walked 258 kilometres last month to raise money for stroke victims. Denny, pictured with a fence sign painted by her grandchildren, wants ambulances to be fitted with equipment to help stroke victims. See story page 10.
$2.50
Garden opening ABOUT 50 people gathered for the opening of the Anglicare Bridges community garden. Page 5
25 years of toy run ORGANISERS Santa (Keith Robinson) and Evan Mandry are all set for their 25th Motorbike Charity Run on Saturday. Page 3
Magnesium study funded
Regional Development Minister: Project could be ‘game changer’
COLLIE could potentially house a carbon-neutral magnesium refinery that would produce high purity magnesium. Magnium Australia has been granted $280,000 from the State Government’s Collie Futures Industry Development Fund towards a feasibility study into establishing a refinery in the Collie region. The study is expected to be complete by mid-2022 and will explore the feasibility of the project being located at one of a number of sites in and around Collie. According to WA Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan, the project has the potential to be a “game changer” for Collie.
Magnium Australia is a relatively new company founded in early 2020 to explore and create projects for downstream processing of critical minerals in Australia. The company has an exclusive licence from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to commercialise the MagSonic technology for low emissions production of critical minerals, including high purity magnesium. Dr Michael Southcott addressed the community on behalf of Magnium at a recent “What’s on the Horizon” event, hosted by the Shire of Collie. Collie with electrical skills, trades and
access to high voltage power is ideally situated to host such a project according to Dr Southcott. “A refurbished power station would be a promising site,” he said. Magnesium is a versatile, high value metal that can be used in alloys and components, hydrogen storage, electronics, medical implants and more. Dr Southcott said Australia has enough magnesium reserves to supply the world for hundreds of years. He said that if a Collie refinery were to prove feasible and move into development, a significant number of both construction and operational jobs could be
created in a multi-staged scalable project. Collie-Preston MLA Jodie Hanns welcomed the potential for a new magnesium production facility. “The town has a skilled workforce, a range of industrial land as well as good access to energy and transport infrastructure to support export focused industries,” she said. “It makes sense to investigate Collie as a desired location for this new energy-intensive industry.” Minister MacTiernan said the state had huge potential for green mineral processing in WA. It also saw a need to continue to diversify the Collie economy.
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