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The Connecting Industry Conference WA was held on June 17, 2021. Five major projects presented more than $5B of their procurement opportunities to approximately 134 attendees. The event was facilitated via a live video streaming platform specifically designed to enable attendees, speakers, and sponsors to connect and have live face to face meetings. The intimate nature of the conference along with world-class technology, meant delegates were presented with an unsurpassed opportunity to network with attendees, sponsors and speakers alike.

Connecting Industry Conferences were born in Queensland due to COVID-19 which was subsequently followed up with an event in New South Wales in February, and again in Western Australia in June. The Connecting Industry streaming platform is designed predominately for networking as just like any face-to face event, delegates attend for three reasons. To obtain the latest information on up and coming projects to ultimately secure work, to listen to project and guest speakers, and to connect with other attendees and their businesses.
Projects that presented
The Connecting Industry Conference WA featured five major projects from around the state. The aim was to provide opportunities to the resource and construction supply chain within a wide geographical area by taking advantage of the project requirements of working with businesses within their local footprint. The projects presenting were:
Strandline Resources: Coburn Mineral Sands Project
Strandline Resources Coburn Mineral Sands Project is one of the largest mineral sands projects in the world, with an exceptional zircon-titanium product suite, low costs, and ability to generate strong financial returns. The deposit is located 240km north of Geraldton close to key infrastructure and the dominant mineral sands market of Asia. The project has key project approvals already in place, including mining and environmental approvals and native title heritage agreements.

Metronet: Morley-Ellenbrook Line Project
The Morley-Ellenbrook Line Project is Perth’s largest public transport project since the Mandurah line and will support more than 6500 jobs. The 21km rail line will give people living and working in Perth’s north-eastern suburbs more transport choice. Spurring off the Midland line from Bayswater Station, the rail line will travel in the centre of Tonkin Highway, through land north of Marshall Rd and along the western side of Drumpellier Drive and ending in Ellenbrook. The rail line will have five new stations consisting of Ellenbrook, Whiteman Park, Malaga, Noranda and Morley, and future proofing for an additional station at Bennett Springs East.

OZ Minerals: West Musgrave Project
OZ Minerals is a global, copper focused ASX 100 company who currently have two operating mines in South Australia, and the West Musgrave project in Western Australia, including mine operations in Brazil. The West Musgrave Project is a major copper–nickel sulphide deposit with a Pre-Feasibility Study confirming the project can be a low carbon, low cost, long life mine producing copper and nickel with the company currently investigating off-grid renewable power and processing solutions, underpinned by solar and wind for the Project.

Australian Vanadium Limited: Australian Vanadium Project
The Australian Vanadium Project is one of the highest-grade vanadium projects currently being developed in the world. It was awarded Federal Major Project Status by the Australian Government in September 2019 in recognition of its national strategic significance and State Lead Agency Status by the Western Australian Government in April 2020 due to its importance as a battery and critical metal project. The Australian Vanadium Project is located 43kms south of the mining town of Meekatharra in Western Australia and a processing plant located near Geraldton.

Yara Pilbara & Engie: Renewable Ammonia & Hydrogen Project
Yara Pilbara and Engie have undertaken to build a demonstration-scale renewable energy and ammonia production and export project at their existing plant on Murujuga in north-west Western Australia. Yara Pilbara liquid ammonia facility began operations in 2006 and is one of the world’s largest single-train ammonia production facilities. ENGIE is a large French multinational electric utility company that who late 2017 announced their new global business unit focused on renewable hydrogen. The commercial demonstration plant would be powered by a dedicated solar farm and the project facilities would cover an area of over 20 hectares. Subject to successful completion of technical and commercial milestones and FID to proceed to construction, renewable energy and renewable ammonia production could begin in 2023.
