Site Tours

Overnight - Century Zinifex Mine

Download Draft Itinerary

About the Century Zinifex Mine... The Century Mine, in the remote lower Gulf region of north-west Queensland, is Australia's largest zinc mine based on concentrate production. The open cut mine also produces lead concentrate. The Century operations comprise two sites - the mine at Lawn Hill, and associated concentrate dewatering and ship-loading facilities at Karumba, on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Century zinc concentrate is highly valued by zinc smelters because of its low iron content, which enables smelters to produce minimal amounts of iron-containing by-products that can pose re-treatment and disposal problems.  Please visit Century Zinifex Mine's website for more info on the site.

Full Day Tour -  Townsville

This tour will travel to Townsville, to the BHP Billiton Yabulu Refinery (located 25 kms north) and to Sun Metals Zinc Refinery (located 15 kms south).

At the conclusion of the tour you’ll be taken back to the airport, for your return travel home.
Draft itinerary -

0645    QF 2301 departs     Cairns
0740    QF 2301 arrives     Townsville
0830    Breakfast
0915    Depart Townsville
1015    Arrive BHP Billiton Yabulu
1215    Lunch
1300    Depart BHP Billiton Yabulu
1400    Arrive Sun Metals
1530    Depart Sun Metals Zinc Refinery
1600    Arrive Townsville Airport 
 

About Sun Metals Zinc refinery... Sun Metals Zinc Refinery, located near the City of Townsville in North Queensland, Australia, is an outstanding example of a major value-adding, export-oriented product that has brought significant economic and employment benefits to the region and the nation.

The refinery consumes more than 400,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates each year, sourced from North West Queensland and other zinc mining areas in Australia and overseas. These concentrates are converted into approximately 200,000 tonnes of value-added zinc metal, mainly for export, which is considerably higher than the plant’s nominal production capacity of 170,000 tonnes of zinc. An important by-product is more than 360,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid which is mainly used in Queensland to produce high quality agricultural fertilisers.
 

Workshop

Social Capital, Community Engagement and Community Development

Background:   Broadly defined, the term ‘social capital’ refers to those features of a community or organisation – such as trust, norms and networks -  that promote cooperation.  There is a growing body of research evidence that communities with strong social capital are more attractive places to live, are better placed to take advantage of economic development opportunities, and are more likely to be sustainable in the long run.

Large-scale mining operations can have both negative and positive impacts on the social capital of communities. How these issues are managed will have major implications for the social license to operate of companies and their ability to deliver sustainable outcomes for communities.

This workshop is about understanding and using Social Capital perspectives in  relation to  local communities.  Social Capital provides a means for understanding communities, the relationship within its members, and the behavior that results.   As such it can be a rich framework for managing social licence issues and designing effective community engagement and development strategies. 

Who Should Attend:   Community relations,  corporate social responsibility officers, and those in-country program staff who face complex issues with communities.  

Workshop Agenda:

Introduction
*What is Social Capital:  history of the idea and definitions.
*Why is SC important
*How do mining operations influence social capital—CASES introduced

Small Group Discussion:  The Social Capital in communities where you work (and live) and how it has changed

A Social Capital Model and Measurement
    *Benefits of a model:  completeness measurement
    *Developing a model and measuring social capital—CASES developed  

Exercise and Small Group Discussion: Participants will apply the measures of SC to the communities in which they work.   They will then develop these into a model and review these in relationship to their mining activity and community development plans. 

Using SC to Manage Community Engagement and Community Development
Monitoring SC:  Identifying leading variables and those sensitive to change
Managing Community Development with the SC model

Exercise and Discussion:  The participants will review their SC model variables and identify those that are sensitive to and lead in their community.  They will then identify strategies they can use to manage for community development.