Wellesley is a locality in the
Bunbury region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, about 10 km north-east of
Australind
Australind is a town in Western Australia, located 12 km north-east of Bunbury's central business district. Its local government area is the Shire of Harvey. At the 2016 census, Australind had a population of 14,539.
History
Prior to Eur ...
. Its
local government area is the
Shire of Harvey
The Shire of Harvey is a local government area of Western Australia. Harvey is located in the state's South West region, approximately 140 km south of Perth, and includes some of Bunbury's northern suburbs. The shire covers an area of 1, ...
. It is bordered on the south and east by the
Brunswick River and the
Wellesley River. The main feature of the locality is the Kemerton Industrial Park.
Kemerton Industrial Park
The estate was established in 1985 as a "strategic industrial area" to provide appropriate buffered land for
heavy industry
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
. It covers an area of 7543
ha, comprising an industrial core of 2100 ha, a support industry area of 300 ha, an inter-industry buffer of 175 ha and a buffer area of 5437 ha which includes bushland, wetland, protection zones and recreational areas. A rail link connecting with the Perth-Bunbury railway is proposed. It is coordinated by the Department of Industry and Resources (WA), South West Development Commission and the Shire of Harvey.
History
Little is known of the area prior to 1980 - a report in 1988 noted that (p. 9) "although mainly a rural area, a significant portion of the Kemerton site remains undeveloped", and there was "very little agricultural development other than the use of the land for seasonal grazing", possibly due to poor soils and inadequate drainage. The report noted a piggery and an abattoir, the latter of which is still in operation.
Proposed aluminium smelter
In 1980,
Alcoa commenced investigations into potential sites for an
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
smelter. Preliminary documentation given to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) indicated that three sites - Worsley Siding,
Pinjarra and Kemerton - were preferred. Alcoa subsequently withdrew from the consortium. Shortly after the election of the
Burke
Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
government, which had in December 1983 launched the "Bunbury 2000" strategy to develop the area, a new consortium, Kukje-ICC Construction trading as International Aluminium Consortium, ruled out Pinjarra as a site. In December 1984, the State Government acquired 3700 hectares of private land at Kemerton to act as a buffer, as the EPA had recommended Kemerton over Worsley Siding due to "fewer uncertainties of ecological interactions, a much better knowledge of potential implications and lower environmental risks". A detailed environmental impact assessment of a proposal by the consortium for a 230,000
tpa smelter was carried out in 1985, and Town Planning Scheme No.10 (Shire of Harvey) was amended to zone the land industrial, but the proposal was deferred indefinitely in 1987 for economic reasons.
Development of the Industrial Park
The rezoning and considerations led to other expressions of interest, and in 1988–1989, several other industries moved into the area and commenced operations, and a draft structure plan was submitted for State Government approval. A new consortium, led by Pennant/John Holland and Wardley Australia Ltd, proposed in February 1989 a single potline smelter with 20% less capacity than the 1985 proposal, but this did not proceed either. The Kemerton Steering Committee (later KIPCC) was formed in April 1989, and at around the same time, a trade magazine article claimed that Kemerton, with its integration of natural bushland, wetland and plantation forestry and an interpretative centre into the planning of the industrial park, "could well become a model for establishing industry as an acceptable land-user in sympathy with environmental values."
Industries
Some of the industries at Kemerton include:
* Millennium Inorganic Chemicals (formerly SCM Chemicals until 1997), a Cristal company, manufactures
titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolub ...
pigment using the chlorine process from
rutile
Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite.
Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visib ...
, or synthetic rutile made from locally mined
ilmenite
Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...
. In 2004/05, 85,000 tonnes of pigment was produced at a value of approximately $300 million. The titanium dioxide pigment is then used in the production of paints, plastics, paper, rubber, printing inks, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The plant was established in 1990, and previously (as LaPorte/SCM) operated from Australind from 1964 to 1990 using a less environmentally palatable sulfate process producing 40,000 tonnes per year of TiO
2.
BOC Limited(previously
CIG) operates an air separation unit in Kemerton to supply 280 tonnes per day of oxygen and nitrogen to Millennium. The plant has liquid storage onsite and serves the Kemerton Industrial Park through the nearby Bunbury Gas and Gear.
* Nufarm-Coogee Pty Ltd, a joint venture between
Nufarm Limited (80%) and Coogee Chemicals Pty Ltd (20%), operates a
chlor-alkali
The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. It is the technology used to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which are commodit ...
plant to supply
chlorine
Chlorine is a chemical element with the symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them. Chlorine i ...
to the local titanium dioxide processing industry, using about 40,000 tonnes of salt to produce about 20,000 tonnes of chlorine and 20,000 tonnes of
caustic soda
Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions .
Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali ...
(NaOH).
Simcoa Operations owned since 1996 by the Japanese
Shin-Etsu Chemical
is the largest chemical company in Japan, ranked No. 9 in Forbes Global 2000 for chemical sector. Shin-Etsu has the largest global market share for polyvinyl chloride, semiconductor silicon, and photomask substrates.
The company was named one ...
Company which has interests in
silicone manufacturing operations in Asia, operates the only
silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ta ...
producing smelter in Australia. It was commissioned in 1989-90 by Barrack Mines, and in 2005, approximately 32,000 tonnes of premium grade silicon (predominantly 99.5% grade) was produced at an estimated value of $75 million. Silicon is used in the production of aluminium alloys, silicones and solar grade silicon wafers.
Silica fume
Silica fume, also known as microsilica, (CAS number 69012-64-2, EINECS number 273-761-1) is an amorphous (non-crystalline) polymorph of silicon dioxide, silica. It is an ultrafine powder collected as a by-product of the silicon and ferrosilicon a ...
is also produced and sold as an additive for high-performance concrete
Kemerton Silica Sandis a joint venture between the Japanese companies
Itochu Corporation
is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo.
It is one of the largest Japanese '' sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descen ...
and Tochu Co Ltd, and has a
feldspathic
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...
silica sand mine just north of the Kemerton Industrial Park. The bulk of the sand is suitable for the container glass and sheet glass industry in Japan and the Asian region, and the first shipment was despatched in July 1996. In 2004/05, 334,532 tonnes of silica sand were exported.
*
Transfield Services
Broadspectrum, formerly known as Transfield Services, was an Australian and New Zealand company that provided infrastructure maintenance services. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, and later owned by Ferrovial, it was the ...
opened the 260
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
Kemerton Power Station
Kemerton Power Station is a power station 17 km northeast of Bunbury in Western Australia. It is located in an area known as the Kemerton Industrial Park. The location had been considered as being Kemerton, in the 1980s as a potential al ...
(gas-fired with diesel backup) on 1 November 2005, delivering power to the
South West Interconnected System
The South West Interconnected System (SWIS) is an electricity grid in the southwestern part of Western Australia. It extends to the coast in the south and west, to Kalbarri in the north and Kalgoorlie in the east. It is not connected to the ot ...
(SWIS) under a 25-year agreement with
Verve Energy
Verve Energy was a Western Australian Government owned corporation responsible for operating the state's electricity generators on the state's South West Interconnected System (SWIS). It was split from the then vertically integrated Western Powe ...
(an arm of WA's state power utility). The project was the first major privately owned power station to be constructed in Western Australia. A 30-year generation licence was granted under the Electricity Industry Act 2004 on 20 March 2006.
Ownership of the power station transferred to
RATCH-Australia
RATCH-Australia Corporation (RAC) is an Australian electricity generation company. It is a subsidiary of RATCH Group (formerly known as Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Company), a public company listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailan ...
in July 2011. Verve Energy became party of
Synergy in 2014.
* The Water Corporation of Western Australia opened a $13 million waste water treatment plant in 2003, replacing two in nearby
Australind
Australind is a town in Western Australia, located 12 km north-east of Bunbury's central business district. Its local government area is the Shire of Harvey. At the 2016 census, Australind had a population of 14,539.
History
Prior to Eur ...
and
Eaton and is capable of treating 3 million litres of waste water per day. Some of the treated water is recycled and used to water nearby tree farms.
* Goodchild Abattoir Pty Ltd, a family-owned company, have operated an abattoir in the area since the late 1970s. 35,000 beef cattle and 225,000 sheep and lambs are processed each year.
References
External links
Kemerton homepage
{{Shire of Harvey towns
Suburbs of Bunbury, Western Australia
Shire of Harvey