AWU calls on federal govt to step in to keep Gove open
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian Workers Union (AWU) on Tuesday called on the federal government to intervene to keep diversified giant Rio Tinto from closing down its Gove alumina refinery, which employs 1 500 people in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory government is working on an amended gas offer for Rio’s Gove refinery, which the mining major is threatening to close.
Rio and the state government have been at odds over a March agreement, under which the Northern Territory would have supplied some 300 PJ of gas, over a 12-year period.
But, in June, the state’s Chief Minister, Adam Giles, said the gas deal contained unacceptable risk to the territory’s economy and its taxpayers, flagging possible energy shortages in the long run.
The state government instead proposed a 195 PJ gas deal for Gove, in the form of a dual fuel model. Rio’s response was that it would prefer to only deal in gas, as the miner was able to source its own heavy fuel.
AWU national secretary Paul Howes said on Tuesday that the refinery was critical to the territory’s economy and its closure would be devastating. “A solution can and must be found to keep this site open. It simply defies logic that we would allow 1 500 jobs to be shed,” Howes said.
“We are seeking an urgent meeting with both [federal Industry Minister] Ian McFarlane and Territory Chief Minister Giles. We must not allow this site to go under because of a failure of political imagination.”
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