Thousands of megalitres of water are being made available in Queensland’s north-west, including for the state’s first vanadium mine, to drive jobs and economic growth.
Water Minister Glenn Butcher said today that the department was announcing a competitive tender for 110,000ML of unallocated water from the Flinders River general reserve to support agricultural development in the Flinders catchment.
“We are delivering on our commitment to open the tender this year so we can get this water flowing to this community,” he said.
“This water will increase agricultural capacity in the area and help drive prosperity, jobs and growth.
“The Palaszczuk Government continues to support regional economic growth through the delivery of unallocated water.”
Resources Minister Scott Stewart said releasing water for Multicom’s St Elmo vanadium mine near Julia Creek was further evidence of the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment to driving development of new-economy minerals in the North West.
“The Government is also investing at least $10 million in a demonstration vanadium processing plant in Townsville as another step towards a new battery manufacturing industry in the North,” he said.
“This is all about creating more jobs in more industries in regional Queensland.”
Entitlements in the Flinders River catchment are also tradeable, and this provides further opportunity for future prospective water users to find water trading partners.
The residual unallocated water volumes within the general reserve will be available to support future demands, including town water supplies and emerging minerals development.
The Department is also releasing unallocated water held as strategic reserve for the Flinders River catchment area under the Water Plan (Gulf) 2007 to support the development of the Saint Elmo vanadium mine near Julia Creek.
As a project of regional significance, the Saint Elmo mine is currently the only project eligible to access strategic reserve water.
