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THECOVE PROJECT

The Gove Project is one of the mostambitious enterprises in Australia's history,and is one of the largest projects everundertaken in this country.

It is being carried out in partnership bySwiss and Australian interests.

The Gove Joint Venture was formed in 1968,between Swiss Aluminium Australia Limited(Austraswiss), and Gove Alumina Limited(Gove Alumina) to extract and develop thebauxite located in the deposits on the centralplaieau of the Gove Peninsula. The JointVenture agreement was signed on January22, 1969. Austraswiss is a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Swiss Aluminium Limited(Alusuisse), of Zurich. lt has a 70% interestin the Gove Project. The balance of 30% isheld by Gove Alumina.

Gove Alumina is a subsidiary of the ColonialSugar Refining Company Ltd. (CSR). ltsshareholders are:

Colonial Sugar RefiningCompany Ltd.

Peko-Wallsend Ltd.Australian Mutual Provident

Society

51.01%12.64%

12.10%The Mutual Life & Citizens

Assurance Company Ltd. 9.lO%Bank of New South Wales 5.05%Commercial Banking Company

of Sydney Ltd. 5.05%Elder Smith Goldsbrough

Mort Ltd. 5.05%

100.00%

These companies are among the leaders ofthe financial, mining, manufacturing andrural industries in Australia.

NABALCOThe Manager of the Gove Project isNabalco Pty. Limited, an Australian companyowned equally by the Swiss and Australianparticipants. Nabalco is the first letters ofNorth Australian Bauxite and AluminaCompany. lt was formed in 1964 toinvestigate and develop the bauxite depositsat Gove, which have proved to be amongthe largest in the world.

Bauxite is a major source of aluminium -the most plentiful metal in the earth's crust

- and there is more bauxite in Australiathan in any other country of the world.

There are more than 250 million tons of highgrade bauxite at Gove, and the Gove JointVenturers are spending $A3 10 million todevelop these deposits.

Nabalco holds no equity irr the project. lts', -::icns are to design, plan, build andoperaie:r: -rre. materials handling system,alumina plani. :o{. tcvrn and utility services,and to manage the ?':-e::ln April, 1966, the first Naoa cc sia:' -cvecto Gove; the test drilling and sarnpling

programme was commenced in June; in July,the first shipment of bauxite was despatchedto Venice for test processing; and in thesame month, Nabalco moved into its newcamp beside the airstrip. This area is noW

called Prospect.

Most of the construction work at Goveis now complete:o in July, 1971, export shipments of bauxite

commenced at a potential rate of twomillion tons a year

. construction of the town of Nhulunbuy wascompleted in June, 1972

o the first stage of the alumina plant wasbasically completed in June, 1972, and,after commissioning, alumina productionccmmenced at the rate of half a milliontons a year in July, 1972 - ahead ofsched u I e

r the second stage of the treatment plant isplanned for completion by the middle of1973, when production will be increased toone million tons a Year

After having carried out the feasibility study,Nabalco planned and designed the entireGove Project. lt has drawn up, negotiatedand administered a great number of contracts,of which more than 40 were worth $1million or more, including the contract of

$35.4 million for the air conditioned town.

Nabalco has also planned and managed allthe complex logistics, such as transportingmore than 400,000 tons of plant, equipment,and materials; accommodation and cateringfor 3600 construction workers; power,water, site transport, and so on. All theselogistic construction services were carried outon the edge of the continent - more than3000 km away from the major Australianconcentrations of population and industry.

Power lor the Gove Proiect

HOWTHE PROJECT BECAN

ln 1963, the Australian Government called forapplicants to develop the bauxite depositsat Gove, after the lessee had indicated itsinability to develop the deposits. ln 1964CSR joined Alusuisse in its applicationfor the lease.

The Government granted the lease inSeptember, 1965, to Nabalco, which had beenformed in 7964 to develop the lease.

It was a condition of the lease that Nabalcowould construct in the Northern Territoryan alumina plant with a capacity of at leasthalf a million tons of alumina a year,based on Gove bauxite.

Nabalco would be released from itscommitments if it were found that thedeposits contained less than 100 million tonsof bauxite of a specified minimum quality.

At that stage the estimated quantity ofbauxite was about 100 million tons and theestimated investment was approximately$100 million.

The first known geological reconnaissance atGove had been made in 1952, but no miningrights had been taken out until 1958.

Alusuisse had f irst become interested inAustralia through being called in by theAustralian Government in i960 to advise ontechnical improvements to the Government'saluminium smelter at Bell Bay,in Tasmania.

At about the same time, an urgent need hadarisen for a new and reliable supply ofbauxite to provide a source of alumina forAlusuisse's plants in Europe andNorth America.

Alusuisse began as the Swiss MetallurgicalCompany in 1888 to produce pure aluminiumby the electrolysis of alumina, using a

process developed two years earlier by a

Frenchman, Heroult, and shares with Alcoathe distinction of being the world's oldestaluminium producers.

Today Alusuisse is involved in every stage ofthe aluminium industry, from the mining of

Early meeting of Swiss and Australian Principals

bauxite to the fabrication of finishedproducts. ln recent years it has been activein the chemical and plastics industries. ltnow operates in 17 countries as widelyseparated as lceland and Australia.

When Alusuisse management learnt of theavailability of the bauxite deposits at Gove, itinvited CSR to join it in applying for thelease and investigating the possibilities ofdeveloping the reserves commercially. CSRagreed to join Alusuisse. CSR is one of thelargest commercial and industrialorganisations in Australia. lt had adopted apolicy of diversif ication from sugar millingand refining, and distilling, into chemicalprocessi ng, ma nufacturi ng, fabrication,concrete, building materials, andmining and quarrying.CSR played the leading part in the setting upof the Mount Newman lron Ore project inWestern Australia, and its response toAlusuisse was a Iogical extension of itswidening activities, particularly in thebuilding materials industry.

Alusuisse and CSR were joined subsequentlyby the AMP Society, Australia's largest lifeassurance society, and the MLC, anotherlead i ng Austra.l ian I if e off ice; Peko-Wal lsend,one of Australia's largest mining companies

- producing copper and rutile, zircon, silver,bismuth, coal and iron ore - and thenation's largest gold and scheelite producer;Bank of NSW, Australia's oldest bank; theCommercial Banking Company of Sydney; andElder Smith Goldsbrough Mort, a leadingrural incjustries company which, like CSR,had diversified into investment,manufacturing and mining.

These partners - Swiss and Australian - allbecame shareholders in Nabalco.lmmediately after being granted the Govelease, Nabalco commenced a comprehensivestudy of the Gove bauxite deposits and theircommercial potential. After two years ofinvestigation, when the report had establishedthat development was feasible, the Swissand Australian partners decided to reorganisetheir association into a Joint Venture, inplace of the existing company structure.

in original oftices at Loftus Street, Sydney.

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-f he f easibility report which surnmarised twoyearst work and $2 million investment.

Nabalco Project Division drawing oflice inSydney.

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THE FEASIBILITY STUDY

Following a photogrammetric aerial survey ofthe Gove Peninsula in 1965, variouspossible schemes for the location of harbourand production facilities, town, and transportsystem were examined and comparedduring the feasibility study carried outduring 1966 and 7967.

At the same time, a pilot alumina plant wasbuilt and operated in Venice to ascertainthe behaviour of Gove bauxite and determinethe process conditions for the full scaleplant at Gove.

The feasibility study included:. complete investigation of the site to

determine the quantity and quality of thebauxite and to study topography, geology,meteorology, hydrography, sea conditionsand structure of the soil

o drilling the whole lease area on at least a

200m grid, much of it on a 100m grid,with about 3Okm of samples drilled,totalling 5,500 holes, and with 30,000 coresamples sent for analysis to the Alusuisseresearch institute in Switzerland

o design of the alumina process by means oflaboratory tests, pilot plant tests withGove bauxite, and a computer programmeto evaluate process variations

. conceptual design of all facilities, includingstudy of various locations for thealumina plant, the harbour, transportsystems and the town

. study of future organisation, a timeschedule and available resources

. estimate of investment cost and operatingcost, including a complete economicevaluation of the project

The first objective was to determine the sitesfor the three principal elements of theproject - plant, harbour and town - andto decide the manner in which the bauxitewould be transported to the plant.

One of the most important requirements washarbour facilities for berthing ships of up toat least 60,00C tons in all tidal conditions,and up to 100,000 tons on favourabletides. There was a limited number of choices

- ranging from an area with deep waterclose to the eastern edge of the reserves, butstrongly affected by wind and wave action,to an area about 20 km west of thereserves in a more sheltered location,

The alumina plant needed to be locatedclose to the reserves or to the harbour.

Alumina plants, which convert bauxite intoalumina, have a relatively low electric powerrequirement, and need largequantities of fresh water. lt is also necessary:-r have substantial storage for alumina insirJS ::':'e shipments are made.

As a resuli a':::-^iaa and eccncr-nicevaluation, the se.=::=: St-3-i ,'.3S:

o mining operation. ,.';:- :'--r- -g s:,::-located in the area nor:: :'r^= z'=:' : z'=transport of the bauxite by a' :;e'a-:

belt conveyor system to the stockpile,alumina plant and marine terminal atDundas Point

o the alumina plant with an output of onemillion tons a year built in two stages of500,000 tons, located on the DundasPoint peninsula close to Gove Harbour

. a marine terminal on the spit of DundasPoint, with a general cargo terminal east ofthe spit and a bulk termlnal westof the spit

. a complete town named Nhulunbuy,Iocated between Mt. Saunders and thebeach south of Cape Wirawawoi, about1Okm east of the plant site

o wells and treatment plant for fresh waternear the Gove airstrip, with pipelines to thetown and the plant

The report on the feasibility study waspresented to the Australian Government inMarch 1968. lt was described by theMinister for the lnterior, the Hon. Peter Nixon,as ". . a remarkable document. I feel surethat never before has so comprehensive andso fully documented a report on a

prospective mining venture been presented toan Australian Parliament. lt represents theresult of two years of continuous study andits presentation is a credit to all concernedwith it."The report showed that:o investment would be higher than originally

estimated mainly due to the remotenessof the area

. proven bauxite reserves were at least 250million tons

o for the project to be viable it would benecessary to increase its capacity to onemillion tons of alumina a year and to export40 million tons of unprocessed bauxiteover the first 20 years

ln June 1968, Alusuisse and CSR agreed thatthe Gove Project should include theexpanded alumina plant and that theinvestment sharing would be changed to itspresent ratio - 70% Austraswiss and 309aGove Alumina.

Geologicai Survey

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Mining and materials handling (from bottomleft): Sample drilling; lront end loader tippingbauxite into 50-ton dump trucks; the crushingstation,' the stacker; the stockpile.

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MININCTHE BAUXITE

The average thickness of the orebodv at Gove

is three to" four metres. Bauxite occurs in

three main forms:o loose pisolltic - round pea-sized grains

.

loosely cemented into a f ine graine.d matrix,

constituting about 30% of the orebody

. cemented pisolitic - pea-sized grains .

firmly cemented with fine grained bauxitematerial (about 35%)

o tubular - a continuous massive structure

f ull of irregular tubular cavities of

vesicular form (vesicular laterite -about 35%)

Mine production is planned on field assay

Jrilling carried out on a 25 m grid base.

anJ ia'ooratory analyses of drilling samples'

Consistency of quality is achieved by

selective mining from vertlcal faces after

anafysis of the lamples has determined the

i.oti.n.. in which areas are to be mined to

ensure required blending of the ore At . .

Lter stages, blending is further achieved by

the ore itacker which moves along the

stockpile depositing layers of ore as it goes'

ini t'n. reclaimers-recovering ore from the

whole face of the stockPile.

Front-end-loaders excavate the ore after

blasting or ripplng as necessary; 50 ton

capacit'y trucks take the bauxite to the

iiusning station where the ore is crushed to

less than 25 mm diameter.

CRUSHING STATIONThe 50 ton dumP trucks tiP the ore

into the twin 200 ton hoppers at the primary

crusher.

Variable speed hydrau lic-powered apron

feeders empty the dumphoppers onto .

vibrating grizzly screens, where the. mtnus

tSO ,,i-rnateriat is separated ar-d bypassed

iothe screen house. The Plus 150 mm

material moves into the primary crusher'

The crusher, with a rotor weighing 27 lons'has a total weight of 84 tons' lt is powered

by two 650 hP 6.6 kV motors and has a

cipacity ot t4lO tons an hour, handling up to

t.b m eOge length lumPs of bauxite'

The material then moves into the screen

house, where twin vibrating screens.separatethe minus 25 mm ore which passes into the

surge bin.

The plus 25 mm ore is fed into the secondary

Part of the team that bui't the Crushing Station

crusher, a Hazemag AP6 weighing 22 Lons

and powered by one 650 hp 6.6 kV motor,

which crushes at the rate of 600 tons

an hour.

Having been transported via conveyor up .

inio tfr'e 1700 ton surge bin the material is

fed by means of two 1.8 m belt feeders,

with -D.C.

variable speed drives, onto an

accelerating belt 1.2 m wide from which

it is transferred to the overland conveyor'

MATERIALS HANDLINGThe overland belt conveyor is 18'7 km long

from crushing station to stockpile at the .

olant site. Other conveyors bring the total

iength of the sYstem lo 27 '4 km'

The overland conveyor consists of three

sections - 5759 m, SStS m and 6401 miong. The belts are 0'9 m wide Other belts in

the"svstem are !.2 m and 1'8 m wide' All

are oi steel cord and 17 mm thick'

The belt on the overland conveyor has a

speed of 3.5 m a second' Bauxite travels

the 18.7 km from crushing station to

stockpile in about 1.5 hours'

The system is fully automatic from mine to

olant or to wharf and is operated by one

man from the main control centre at the

f,.ra of the stockpile. Other control stations

monitor various conditions'

Once the start button is pressed, the start

for each belt is monitored in the main control

centre and with all systems in order, the

tlo. I n.tt 18.5 km away starts last' eight

minutes later. This allows for the start ot a

iuilv loaoeo belt. The operator can vary the

speed of the belts.

At the end of the conveyor the bauxite is

stockpiled by a stacker which operates

iutomatically. The stacker travels the f ull

length of onL stockpile and returns for a

pieEet numOer of runs. Then the boom lifts

into the next highest position and the

stacker travels the preset number of runs ..

,nrln. ffit cycle goes on until the stockpile

L'iompreteO. Theloom then turns to build

up another stockpile parallel with the first'

The stacker is repositioned fron' cre area ic

another through manuai coniroi f!'cr: ihe

stockPile control cabin'

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THEALUMINAPLANT

The recovery of alumina from bauxiteby the Bayer process is basically simplebut technologically complex. The process forthe treatment of Gove bauxite was workedout after a careful study of the compositionof the material, and trials in the pilotplant in Venice.

Bauxite from the stockpile is fed into largegrinding mills where it is reduced to very f ineparticles, and mixed with hot caustic soda.The mixture is then passed through a seriesof steam-heated digestors where thetemperature is raised. The alumina isdissolved out of the suspended bauxite, andthe resulting hot slurry is diluted to helpremove insoluble impurities such as sand andiron oxide, and passes through a series ofvessels to remove the silica.

The ferrosilt, which contains the impurities, isseparated from the aluminate liquor in largethickening tanks. lt is then washed free ofliquor in a series of wash thickeners beforebeing pumped to disposal areas. Theliquor is passed through pressure filters toremove residual impurities, cooled by heatexchangers to 50'C, and pumped into aseries of vessels of 3000 m3 capacity andmixed with large amounts of seed hydrate toprecipitate the alumina hYdrate.

The alumina hydrate slurry is filtered and theliquor returns to the process.A large proportion of the alumina hydrate isreturned to the precipitators as seed hydrate.The remainder, production hydrate, iswashed and dried carefully on drum filters.Then it is fed into calcining kilns operatingat very high temperatures to produce alumina(aluminium oxide). Throughout the cycle,wherever appropriate, heat energy is conservedby heat exchange between liquor streams.Alumina is a fine white powder and is storedin two 50,000 ton concrete silos to awaitexport.

By mid-1973, the storage capacity will be

doubled by the addition of a 100,000 tonsilo now under construction. When completed,it will be the largest alumina silo in theworld.

A steam power station supplies process steamto the plant, and 112.5 MW electric power,generated by three 35 MW back pressureturbines and one 7.5 MW condensing turbine.A stand-by diesel power station of 14 MW

capacity provided power during earlyconstruction stages.

Power is distributed through 72.5 km ol22 kV overhead high tension cables to plant,port, materials handling system, mine, townand ancillary works.

A complex instrumentation system controlsthe process and logs data from the systems'

The two existing 50,000 ton silos were builtbv the slip form construction method, thefirst in 10 days and the second in seven

days, to the top of the 38 m high walls.

The 100,000 ton silo will be of an entirelydifferent shape and design from the existingstructures, with low walls and large conicalroof. A model has undergone an exhaustivewind-tunnel testing programme atSydney University.

THE BULK EXPORTSYSTEMThere are two drum-type reclaimers,one to feed the export conveyor system andthe other to feed the alumina plant. Theywork from separate stockpiles. The drum on

the export reclaimer is 33.5 m long and5.5 m in diameter. The reversible rotatingdrum has 84 buckets attached to the outersurface. The buckets scoop from the base of

the stockpile and deliver to a belt. The face ofthe stockpile is agitated by an oscillatingrake, causing the material to flow down intothe path of the buckets. Material can bereclaimed at about 2200 tons an hour.

The shiploader traverses the 165 m bulkterminal which is 1006 m from shore. lt has

a telescopic boom with a maximum reachof 38 m and can load carriers up to 100,000tons. Height is 50 m above water level.Minimum depth of water atlow tide is 14 m.

The alumina plant reclaimer feeds bauxite at400 t.p.h. into the grinding mill at the startof the treatment process.

From the silos the alumina is fed by airslides onto a 1.8 m wide export conveyor beltand moved 1850 m to the export loader onthe bulk cargo wharf. The export conveyor is

wider from this point to cope with lowerdensity alumina, and it incorporates a

washing system that cleans the belt aftereach shipment of bauxite. The bulk cargoterminal incorporates a 166 m bridge to thetanker pier. The entire terminal is constructedof tubular steel piles with steelsuperstructure. The tanker unloading andshiploading platforms are of reinforcedconcrete.

The bulk cargo wharf berthing facilitiesconsist of six breasting dolphins and twomooring dolphins; the tanker pier has fourbreasting dolphins and one mooring dolphin.Tankers may also use one of the bulk cargomooring dolphins.

Four pipes run from the tanker pier to theshore and are used for transporting BunkerC fuel oil, diesel oil, petrol, caustic soda andfresh water. Water runs in the reversedirection as it is used to supply ships.

The shiploader weighs 400 tons and is 36 m

above the wharf. lt travels back and forthalongside a conveyor belt which runs thelength of the bulk cargo gallerY.The bauxite is fed through the shiploader andloaded into the ships at a rate ot 22OO

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DISC FILTEBS

AT GOVE N,T,

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FITTRATION

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Flow chart of alumina process.

Aerial view ol Dundas Point, showing matineterminal, alumina plant and stockpile.

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PROCESS PI,ANTTh= v3nous sect,ons of the alumina plani area/most factories in themse,ves-ErindinE mills,.rzea.ettcn. Arecipitatian, thickening and

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Loading bauxite into m.v. "Shozen Matu".

M.v. "Shozen Maru" alongside bulk terminal.

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ALUMINATOALUMNIUM

tons an hour, and alumina at2000 tons an hour.

The shiploader is under the control of anoperator in a cabin above the loading boom.

The bauxite which passes through theshiploader is exported to Japan and Europe.Alumina is being exported initially tosmelters in Europe, the United States andAfrica. There lt will be smelted by electrolysisinto aluminium, which is being put tomore uses every year, because of itsparticular qualities.

Aluminium -the versatile metalAluminium is:lightwith a specific gravity of 2.7, aluminium isabout 1 /3 as heavy as ironstronghigh-strength aluminium alloys reach thestrength of ordinary structural steelresistantits compact, natural oxide skin protectsaluminium against weathering and chemicalactiona good electrical conductoran equivalently conducting aluminium crosssection is 1.6 times the correspondingcopper cross section, but leads to a weightsaving of about 50%a good thermal conductoralthough the melting point of aluminium isconsiderably lower than that of steel, becauseof its greater thermal conductivity, the heatrequired for welding aluminium, forexample, is about the same as that requiredfor steela good reflectoraluminium is a good reflector of heat, lightand electro-magnetic wavesnon-magneticeven iron additions have little effect on thenon-magnetic properites of aluminium sinceiron is present in aluminium in aparamagnetic phasenon-toxicboth the metal and its salts are non-toxic.Man takes about 12 mg of aluminium daily inhis food without any harmful effectductilealuminium can be shaped by all the commonforming and cutting processesdecorativethrough surface treatment processes ofvarious kinds aluminium can be useC to givethe widest possible variety of decorativeeffects

AlloyingSuperpurityaluminium (Al 99.98% and over),high purity aluminium (above 99.8% Al) andpure aluminium (Al 99.0%-99.8%) possess

certain properties which, for special purposes,can be improved or modified by addition ofone or several other elements, i.e. byalloying. ln this way, among oihers, high

strength alloys with strengths correspondingto those of ordinary structural steel areobta i ned.

Basically aluminium alloys fall into twogrou ps:o alloys which are not treated with heato heat treatable alloys

Aluminium alloys are furlher divided intocasting alloys and wrought alloys accordingto subsequent treatment.

Wrought alloysThe highest purity aluminium: forapplications in the chemical industry, foilsfor electrolytic capacitors.

Material which can be brightened; forreflectors, decorative uses and strip forvehicles, furniture. vratch cases, jewellery,instrument panels, optical equipment.

Cooking utensils, containers and apparatus,chemical and food industries, electricalindustry, foils.

Roofing, containers, packaging, elements offacades.

Work hardened structural material; containersand apparatus, ship building, rolling stock,road transport vehicles, architecture,materials handling equipment.

Heat treatable alloys for general use suitablefor decorative anodising: ship building,rolling stock, road transport vehicles,structural engineering, building, electricalapplications and apparatus.

Grey coloured alloy for interior and exteriorarchitectural appl ications.

Medium strength heat treatable structuralmaterial.

High strength heat treatable structuralmaterial.

Very high strength heat treatable structuralmaterial.

Free machining alloy.

Conductor material.

Casting alloysMedium strength materiai vrtth gocc cast:rgproperties.

Heat treatable alioy fcr cor.pcr'er:s :ha: aredifficult to proc;ce a^: 'e3- r' -g 'Ei'strength.

Moderately gooC castaci ,i.v. sii:able rordecorat:ve a'cc.s.-9. ees J '\3'(et.gy6sllert -es sta^:e aga -sI sea'*aie!'.

Heat trea:ao,e ? 3is c; tne nighesi strengthsuitable rc. Dal:s s"b;ected to impact orrepeateC sI:'ess: r'eo-:ceC cherrica: resistance.

Nat-r'ar,;' age,:g a,'oy of medium s:rength,s;e: a -, sJ:ac'e for sand casting and'1

NHULUNBUY

Few towns or cities are planned andthen built. Most are built and then planned,if they are planned at all. Canberra, theAustralian capital, is one of the exceptions.

Nhulunbuy is another.

Both Canberra and Nhulunbuy are fineexamples of town planning, and populationcentres of great, if varying, beauty.

An "instant town", Nhulunbuy has beendesigned, planned and built to create a

feeling of permanence and solidarity.Construction is mainly of pre-cast concrete,and all buildings, including most dwellings,are air conditioned.

Various types of family accommodation areavailable - 156 two-bedroom flats in 13blocks of 12 flats, 402 three-bedroom housesand 57 four-bedroom houses. 0f these, 60houses were built by Nabalco on behalf ofthe Commonwealth Government to providehomes for its officers at Gove, but these arenot air conditioned. There are also sixblocks of single staff quarters providing singleaccommodation for 460 men and 48 women.

William Gove House, named after the airmanwho died In World War ll and gave hisname to the peninsula, is the amenitiescentre for single staff. lt contains a diningroom to seat 500 people, a large sitting room,records anci games rooms, meeting roomsand two outside courtyards.

The new town is fully served with drainage,sewerage, power, water supply and sealedroads, fully kerbed and guttered.

Education needs are well served with a

pre-school centre and higher primary school,both of which are equipped with the mostmodern teaching aids and facilities. A

separate primary school is planned for197 4 / 75 and the higher primary schooleventually will be upgraded to a full highschool.

All basic subjects are provided at secondary

Nabalco's nursery al Nhu,unbuy

level and the curriculum follows the SouthAustralian system.

Adult education classes are available, andsessions are held for pottery, painting,woodwork,/ metalwork, drama, ha ndicraftsand music.

A hospital complex with a 64-bed nursingblock, administration block, services block,fully equipped operating theatre and nursesquarters, is sited on the south-east slope ofMt. Saunders.

An ambulance service is operated inconjunction with the hospital and theNorthern Territory Aerial Medical Service hasan aerial ambulance stationed permanently atGove Airport. A Z4-hour emergency medicalservice is available. Nominal charges onlyare made for all services, and drugs dispensedare provided free of charge.

A dental clinic and infant health centre sharea building in the town centre. All chargesare minimal and emergency dental treatmentis available.

The shopping mall in the town centreincorporates a supermarket, pharmacy,butcher, newsagency and stores sellingfashion goods, dress materials, haberdashery,electrical appliances, gifts, menswear andsporting goods, men's and ladies'hairdressers and a milk bar includingtake-away food also operate.

The town centre complex includes bankpremises, town administration off ices, library,community hall, post office, police and firestations, court house, airline agencies andCommonwealth Ad mi n istration off ices.

Near the town centre is a community clubwith a recreation centre including tenniscourts, bowling green, covered all-purposeccun and change rooms. An Olympic sizesvrirnming pool is Iocated nearby.

The Walkabout Hotel with several bars,restaurant facillties, 42 guest rooms and a

hire-car service, overlooks a freshwater lagoonand the Arafura Sea.

ln addition to the services and facilitiesdirectly within the town centre, a retail store,agency bank facilities, non-official post office,and airline passenger and freight officesare Iocated at Wallaby Beach.

The post office at Nhulunbuy has fulltelephone, telegraph, and postal facilities,and provides Commonwealth Savings Bankservices.

An automatic telephone system is installedthroughout the area and trunk Iine servicesare connected to Darwin through an effectivetroposcatter system.

A guest house with restaurant facilities isestablished at Prospect, not farfrom Gove Airport.

Garden and swimming pool ol Walkabout Hotelat Nhulunbuy.

Aerial view of Nhulunbuy showing:(toteground) two-bedtoom flats; (middte

distance) staf, sing,e quarters, WalkaboutHotel, town centre, and higher primary school;

(backgrou nd) housing neighbourhoods.

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Mrs. Romain Zufferey, of Valais, Switzerland,was the first woman on site, and is the onlywoman remaining from the early Nabalcopioneers. Mrs. Zufferey is a keen gardener.Her husband is Naba,co's chief minemechanic, and they have three children.

Relaxation on the one day olt a week takesm a ny t or m s-i ncl ud i ng pa rti es.

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LIVINCATCOVE

The Gove Peninsula is undulating,but relatively flat, with a central plateaurising to about 55 m above sea level. Thesoil is mostly a loose to rocky laterite, withoccasional gra nite outcrops.

The vegetation varies. lnland, especially onthe higher ground, it is open parkland, withmany eucalypts, including Darwin stringybarks, and other tropical hardwoods, and withiow undergroMh. Coastal vegetation is moreluxuriant, with heavy undergroMh, and thereare some mangrove swamps.

Gove is well within the tropics, only 12south of the Equator, and is subject to wetand dry seasons.

The climate, however, is never severe.

Average rainfall is 1.36 m, with a relativelyhigh humidity at the onset of the wet season,which lasts from November to May.

The temperature fluctuations are much lessextreme than those experienced in Sydneyor Melbourne, but the temperatures areconsistently high.

The average maximum temperature duringJune and July is about 27"C. This rises to34"C in November and December. FromJanuary to March, the average maximumtemperature drops to about 26'C. Averagenight temperatures remain at about 15'C,even in the coolest months.

Strong winds of up to 50 km.p.h. occursometimes from April to October and duringthe wet season there are occasional galeforce winds.

There is ample fresh water in the GovePeninsula. lt comes from a ground aquiferabout 15 m above sea level, under thebauxite deposits in the central plateau.The safe yield is between six and eight milliongallons a day. This is sufficient for thedevelopment of the Project.

There are no roads into Gove, and norailway. The most likely overland route toDarwin is about 750 km long, and involvesmany river crossings; another likely route,avoiding the crossings, is over 1000 kmlong.

Access is by air and sea for people, plant,equipment, supplies and provisions.

By air, the Gove Peninsula is about 650 kmeast of Darwin, 965 km west of Cairns and1290 km north-west of Mt. lsa. lt is closer toSingapore than to Sydney.

There are 15 cornmercial airline flights a weekinto Gove plus some freight flights.

MacRobertson- M iller Airlines (M MA) operatesseven f lights a week by F28 Fellowship jetaircraft from Darwin. Ansett and TAA eachoperates two flights a week from Cairns arotwo from Mt. lsa, usingFZT Friendship

turbo-prop aircraft. lVtost of these flights havedirect connections with jet flights to andfrom the large cities in the southern andeastern States. Small charter planes arereadily available from Darwin.

The landscape is an attractive combination ofwhite beaches, red cliffs and timbered slopes.Cool sea breezes blow along the coast andacross the site of Nhulunbuy, on the slopesof Mt. Saunders.

Nhulunbuy is the Aboriginal word for the hillnamed Mt. Saunders by Captain MatthewFlinders when he anchored in Melville Bay in1802.

Swimming is safe from most beaches exceptduring the wet season from November toMay, when venomous sea wasps makeswimmi ng extremely dangerous.

Many families have portable swimming poolsand public pools are provided at WallabyBeach and Nhulunbuy South as well as theOlympic sized pool in the town centre.

Sailing is popular within the shelter ofMelville Bay and water skiing from shelteredcoves in Melville Bay is practicable, excepton days with high winds and inthe wet season.

Reef fishing is popular with coral trout, cod,red emperor, sweet lip and snapper beingreadily caught in good numbers.

More sporting fish are tuna, turrum,barracuda, mackerel, queen fish, trevally andshark taken in the open sea, and from therivers, bream, mangrove jack and barramundi.

Regular tennis, cricket, soccer and rugbymatches are organised.

The Gove Country Golf Club has laid out a

nine hole course with watered fairways andsand greens. Regular competitions are heldand there are plans to extend the courseto 18 holes.

A wide range of social, recreational andcommunity facilities are catered for andinclude school committees, a technicalsociety, conservation group. Lions Club andLadies' Auxiliary, youth club. rescue andsafety committees including cyclone vfety.skin diving club, basketbali club. bcaiingclub, gymnastics and ircga. chircren's baliet.gun club, Boy Sccuis. Giri GLiices. Cubsand Brownies. surf ;if e g2v,'g c r,b.

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THECONTRACTORS

For the people of Nabalco, the feasibilitystudy and then the planning, designing andsupervising construction of the Gove Projecthas been an eight-year task. Bringing thecomplex project into operation on time andwithin budgeted cost has been an engineeringand administrative feat of considerablemagnitude, not only by Nabalco, but also bythe many contractors to whom Nabalcoentrusted various phases of the work.

Contractors and the men who work for themhave shared with Nabalco the achievementof bringing into being one of the world'sgreat industrial achievements.

There have been more than 100 contractors,numerous sub-contractors and hundreds ofsuppliers. A few of the major contractors areoverseas companles, who operate fromAustralian bases, and the benefit toAustralian manufacturers and suppliers hasbeen substantial. More than 90% of the totalconstruction cost has been or will be spentwithin Australia.

The organisations which have helped tosupply and build the Gove Project rangefrom huge multi-national companies providinga range of services and products in manycountries to one or two man operators whomove from contract to contract, living asthey go.

Contractors responsible for the major workswere:

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Bernard-Smith P.D.M. of Australia, million

tanks and vessels 18Ralph M. Parsons of U.S.A., steam-

power station 18Dillingham-Jennings-Mainline (A. V.

Jennings of Australia, the Dilli nghamCorporation of Hawaii, MainlineCorporation of Australia) -construction of the town andancillary works 40

Transfield Pty. Ltd. of Australia,includingTransbridge and Zi ncline

- general civil engineering andsurface protection 24

Weserhuette Otto Wolff of Germany -materials handling 12.9Poon Bros. of Australia, catering 11.3P. D.C. Constructions Pty. Ltd.-various

construction contracts 13Clyde Carruthers Pty. Ltd. 10.5Fischer and Porter Pty. Ltd. 7

The Aggregate Quarry

John Holland (Constructions) Pty. Ltd. 8Leighton-Atkinson Joint Venture 8.5Dorr Oliver Pty. Ltd. 1

Simon Carves (Australia) Pty. Ltd. 2.5Tubemakers of Australia Ltd. 4.8T. A. Mellen Pty. Ltd. 3Sumitomo Shoji (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. 1.9Noyes Bros. Pty. Ltd. 5.1Hastings-Deering (N.T.) Pty. Ltd. 1.6South Pacific lnsulation Pty. Ltd. 3.3Chicago Bridge Australia Pty. Ltd. 3.4Davis Contractors 6.1Pioneer Concrete (Qld.) Pty. Ltd. 6.8Eglo Engineering Pty. Ltd. 2.2

Many of the contracts involved unusualfeatures - such as the slip-form constructionused in the building of the two 50,000 tonalumina silos, and the Hochstrasser-Weisssystem to drive 0.6 m diameter bored piers tobedrock, 12 m below ground level in thefoundations of the precipitation area.

THE COMMONWEALTHThe Australian Government has played a vitalpart in the Gove Project.

It has contributed nearly $18 million towardsthe construction of Nhulunbuy, includlngprovision of the hospital and medicalservices, school, post office, police station,court house, fire station and administrativeoffices.

The Department of Civil Aviation hasco-operated in the establishment by Nabalcoof the airport, and the Department ofShipping and Transport in the creation byNabalco of the Port of Gove (Melville Bay).

The Postmaster-General's Department hasestablished a tropospheric scattertelecommunications chain from Darwinthrough Arnhem Land to provide Gove withadequate links with the world outside.

Customs and Excise has been closelyidentified with several aspects of the Projectand a full time Customs Officer is stationedat Nhulunbuy.

The Departments of the Treasury, Trade andlndustry, National Development, Labour andNational Service, External Territories,Health, Education and Science, and Workshave all played some Part in thedevelopment of Gove.

Overall. the Minister for the lnterior, as theminister responsible for the NorthernTerritory, and his oepartmental officers inboth Canberra and Darwin, have played a

leading role in a great partnershipbetween Government and private enterprise.

The day-to-day dealings of the Commonwealthwith the Project are handled largely by theNorthern Territory Administration, whoseheadquarters staff at Darwin are relativelynear neighbours of Nabalco's managementat Gove-the 650 km air distance being littlemore than an hour's journey by jet aircraft.

Steam power station,Marine terminal, alumina silos anci surface

protection.Central control room.

,nside the steam power station.Ferrosilt disposal system.Alumina plant laboratory.

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One of the hiahlights of the past two yearswas the visit of H.E. The Governorceneral,The Rt- Hon- Sir Paul Hasluck, G.C.M.G.,G.C.V.O., K.SI.J., who was visiting old triendsand took the opportunitv to renewacquaintances. Although new ways areslowty taking hold in the Yirrkala community,the chitdren mixing freely with whiteAustralians, many of the traditional activitiescontinue as they have gone on for centuries-including handicratts and corroborees.

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YIRRKALA

The Gove Project is built within the ArnhemLand Aboriginal Reserve. As a consequence,mining royalties are paid at double therate which would otherwise apply.

Gove Alumina pays 30 cents a ton on bauxiteexported and Gove Alumina and Austraswisspay between 10 cents and 20 cents a ton(according to a formula) on bauxite convertedto alumina.

The royalties are paid into theAborigines Benefits Trust Fund which isadministered by the Australian Governmentfor the benefit of all Aborigines in theNorthern Territory. These royalties areestimated to amount to about $850,000 ayear by 1974, when the project will beproducing one million tons of alumina ayear and exporting two million tons ofbauxite a year. The Aborigines in thecommunity at Yirrkala and elsewhere in theGove Peninsula will receive 10% of theroyalties payable by the CommonwealthGovernment into the trust fund from theGove Project. They are also entitled topafticipate in benefits from the fund.The Yirrkala Mission is 37 km from the plantand 13 km from the mining operation.About 700 Aborigines live at Yirrkala ofwhom more than half are under the ageof 16.

ln preparing the sites of the marine terminal,alumina plant, town, and crushing station,and during mining, trees and undergrowthwere removed to make construction possible,and for fire protection.

Care was taken, however, to retain as manytrees as possible, particularly in the townarea, and a reafforestation programme hasbeen adopted to beautify residential andindustrial locations. Trees and overburdenremoved during the mining operations will beprogressively replaced in a carefully controlledrehabi litation programme.

Aborigtnal children at Yirrkala

Large areas of the natural environment arebeing retained and emphasis is placed onattractive la ndscape gardeni ng.

A tree and plant nursery has been establishednear the hospital and another is inoperation at Yirrkala. The Aboriginalcommunity also operates a market garden,brickworks, laundry and several Nhulunbuytown services.

The Aboriginal legend, culture, historyand sacred sites in the Gove Peninsula are allrespected by Nabalco.

Aborigines of the area are noted for theirbark paintings and other artifacts.

Before the Mission was established in 1935,by the Rev. Wilbur Chaseling, theAborigines now in the Yirrkala communityexisted in small groups and moieties, huntingand roaming across north-eastern ArnhemLa nd.

They hunted kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles,and buffalo introduced into NorthernAustralia by early Malay traders.

There are also considerable numbers andvarieties of colourful birds.

Over the centuries, the way of life of theAborigines had evolved slowly. Theestablishment of a settled community, withpermanent houses, a Christian Church and aGovernment school reshaped their lives.

The Gove Project has accelerated a processthat was already in motion. lt has speededthe emergence of men who are assumingthe responsibilities of leadership through theYirrkala Council, which confers regularly withNabalco on matters of common interest.ln this way, as in many others, the GoveProject is helping in the development ofAustra lia.

PEOPLE

ln early 1967, Naoalco had a total workforceof 64 people, 31 of them at Gove, livingin rough conditions, carrying out field surveysand tests both for the feasibility study andfor advance planning of the project. The sizeof the workforce at Gove remained relativelystable for a while but in Sydney there wasa build-up of technical and administrativepeople involved in the detailed planning ofthe venture and preparing for the start-upof construction. By January, 1969, more than300 people in Sydney were involved in thepreparation of detailed technical informationand in administrative planning for thesupport and maintenance of the largeconstruction workforce that would be required.

When the "green light" was received inJanuary, 1969, recruitment began in earnest.The workforce at Gove grew steadily untilSeptember, 1971, w5en a peak of 3663people was reached, and remained at a highlevel right through to the completion of thefirst stage of construction.

By this time Gove was starting to take onthe character of a town rather than a

construction camp. The total population hadgrown to 4420 including324 families,with a total of 757 women and children.

Most of the construction workforce wasemployed by the many contractors involved inthe project. These people, from a variety ofcountries brought with them the manyskills necessary for a project of this kind,and performed their tasks at a high level ofefficiency. They worked 10 hours a day,six days a week, in a hot tropical climate inone of the remotest areas of Australia -and they did it for months on end.

They created a community spirit and

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camaraderie which assisted them to overconletheir problems. These things - and a

sensible industrial relations policy whichenabled grievances to be settled quickly -were the main reasons why construction hascontinued almost entireiy uninterrupted byindustrial strife. Gove has lost only 1.5i%of the total available working time duringthe entire course of construction.

Not all the human effort on the project tookplace at Gove. From January, 1969, onwards,substantial administrative, logistic, andtechnical planning functions were performedin Sydney io co-ordinate and support theconstruction work at Gove. The people inSydney provided an efficient back-up forcefor the construction project anci formulatedthe policies and procedures necessary for thesmooth operation of community andindustrial enterprise. Nabalco is a very youngcompany with no history or background ofits own in policies, systems, functions -so all these had to be developed from scratch.

This was one area where the contributionof skills and experience of the Swiss andAustralian partners proved to be invaluable.

To ensure continuity of construction, it wasnecessary to co-ordinate the supply ofmaterials and their arrival at G6ve at theright time, to work out constructiontimetables, and to prepare plans andspecifications; to recruit, maintain andsupport a workforce of over 3000 people, toinstitute financial controls to keep theconstruction work within the requiredeconomic limits.

Unlike most similar enterprises who contractout the construction planning andmanagement of their projects, Nabalco hascarried out this job itself together with allthe forward planning needed for the operationof the enterprise when construction hasf in ished .

ln the past three years, more than 25 millionman hours have been worked at Gove bythousands of people, and a further fivemillion man hours in Sydney.

These hours have been worked by people.People in dark suits and people in tatteredshorts. People in hard hats and people inhead bands. People working at desks andpeople working with drills. Directors,managers, supervisors, labourers, engineers,f itters, boi lermakers, welders, dra ughtsmen,clerks, typists, miners, cooks, drivers, lawyers,accou nta nts, economi sts, buyers, rnecha nics,bricklayers, carpenters. geologists, doctors,teachers, electricians, chem ists, storemen,public servants, bankers, architects, mariners,seamen . . . Australian, Swiss, British,American, German, French, ltalian, Polish,Yugoslav, Dutch, Norwegian, Lebanese,Spanish, New Zealand, Tongan, Fijian,Canadian, Danish . . . Peoplefrom3Tnations...People...

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PEOPLE....Thousands of tons of engineering andconstruction supplies and material, de,icateand complex control mechanisms, andmassive structures have gone into the GoveProiect, but the maior lactor in its successfulcompletion has been people-people inSydney and in Gove.These are some of the people.

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