TECHNOLOGY

Gas companies keen for Mid West mining

A PIPELINE stretching nearly 600 kilometres connecting Perth Basin gas fields with mining companies in Western Australia's Mid West region is being considered by the Environmental Protection Authority.

 Gas pipelines to unlock the Mid West are being proposed by two different businesses, while a small-scale LNG hub is also being established for miners in the region.

Gas pipelines to unlock the Mid West are being proposed by two different businesses, while a small-scale LNG hub is also being established for miners in the region.

Gas infrastructure business APA Group plans to build a pipeline called the Northern Goldfields Interconnector.

The pipeline will start 50km east of Geraldton, pass Mount Magnet, and connect to the existing Goldfields Gas Pipeline about 40km south of Leinster.

The total length of the 3m-wide buried pipeline will be about 580km long and cost in the region of $460 million.

APA hopes to have the pipeline operational by mid-2022, forming an "interconnected WA Gas Grid".

"The project will connect existing gas assets in the Mid West region with existing gas assets in the Northern Goldfields region," it said.

"The Northern Goldfields Interconnector will create new opportunities for the supply of natural gas for the mining industry and provide for other growth opportunities in the Goldfields region and beyond."

The company will have to build additional infrastructure including a compressor station at Ambania to move the gas.

It is yet another gas supply project for potential Mid West mining endeavours.

Fellow gas infrastructure business Australian Gas Infrastructure Group already plans to build its own pipeline to service the Cashmere Downs iron ore project.

AGIG has partnered with Anglo American and Cashmere Iron to build its pipeline and be "foundation offtakers" to instill commercial confidence.

Separately from AGIG and APA, a private company called Clean Energy Fuels Australia is also building its own gas project for miners in the Mid West.

The Mid-West LNG hub has already signed an offtake agreement with high-grade granite kaolin miner WA Kaolin.

LNG will be trucked from a yet to be built plant at Mount Magnet the 600km south to Wickepin.

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