THE Victorian government will put almost $4 million into new rail infrastructure at Hopetoun in a bid to move the transportation of mineral sands products off local roads and onto rail.
The move will allow Iluka Resources to transport mineral sands to its Hamilton separation plant, taking more than 20,000 B-Double trips off the Henty highway, annually.
Regional and Rural Development minister Jacinta Allan announced the grant at Hamilton today and said the move would lead to safer roads in western Victoria.
"Using rail to transport Iluka's mineral sands will increase the volume of freight on the regional freight network by about 25 per cent, reversing the trend of reducing rail volumes in the state," she said.
"This initiative will help improve network utilisation and increase the likelihood of future use from other mineral extraction sites."
Yarriambiack mayor Jean Wise said the grant would provide a great benefit to her community and take about 60 trucks off local roads, per day.
"It is a great step to improve facilities in our region, and its improtant for our ageing population to have less trucks on our roads.
"We're hopeful that in time more upgrades could be made which may allow grain to be transported by rail, and not on our roads," she said.
Ms Allan said Iluka was also likely to transport mineral concentrate from its Euston and Balranald sites in coming years.
The company employs more than 400 people in western Victoria, extracting mineral sands from sites at Ouyen and Douglas, north of Balmoral, and processing product at Hamilton before transporting it to the Port of Portland for shipment to overseas markets such as China.
Regional and Rural Development minister Jacinta Allan announced the grant at Hamilton today and said the move would lead to safer roads in western Victoria.
"Using rail to transport Iluka's mineral sands will increase the volume of freight on the regional freight network by about 25 per cent, reversing the trend of reducing rail volumes in the state," she said.
"This initiative will help improve network utilisation and increase the likelihood of future use from other mineral extraction sites."
Yarriambiack mayor Jean Wise said the grant would provide a great benefit to her community and take about 60 trucks off local roads, per day.
"It is a great step to improve facilities in our region, and its improtant for our ageing population to have less trucks on our roads.
"We're hopeful that in time more upgrades could be made which may allow grain to be transported by rail, and not on our roads," she said.
Ms Allan said Iluka was also likely to transport mineral concentrate from its Euston and Balranald sites in coming years.
The company employs more than 400 people in western Victoria, extracting mineral sands from sites at Ouyen and Douglas, north of Balmoral, and processing product at Hamilton before transporting it to the Port of Portland for shipment to overseas markets such as China.
