Project Boomerang, Queensland

Operators: East West Line Parks Pty Ltd (EWLP)

Location:  Comprises a new 3,370km trans Australian railway from Port Hedland, Western Australia to Moranbah, in the central Queensland coal fields, as well as 6 or more steel smelters on both coasts (12 or more in total), associated port facilities and infrastructure to support the project.

Cost:  US$45b

Timeframe:  February 2010, the Feasibility Study began (2.25 years) and in 2014, construction will begin (3 years).  In 2018, Smelter Park units will commence production and the first train will run.

   Employment: Expected to generate up to 35,000 jobs in the Northern Territory and South Australia during construction.

Status:  East West Line Parks is building one of Australia's largest infrastructure projects - a transcontinental multi-user rail infrastructure corridor and steel manufacturing complex which they claim will revolutionise global steel manufacturing.  Poised to be one of the biggest construction challenges in the nation’s history, Project Iron Boomerang will link the Pilbara iron ore mines in Western Australia with the Bowen Basin coal mines in north Queensland via a 3,300km rail line.  The infrastructure, services and resource linkages will support and fuel two Steel Precincts, one on each coast, which will manufacture slab steel for export.

The purpose built transcontinental railway line will link Australia’s two great ore bodies for steelmaking, iron ore from the west coast and metallurgical coal from the east coast.  The transcontinental railway will be dedicated to carrying resources efficiently from one side of the country to the other between the first stage iron and Steel Precincts.

The project’s primary objective is to service and facilitate the production of slab steel in Australia for export, thereby significantly reducing the quantities of seaborne iron ore and coal consumed in the world’s steel production cycle.

Senior visitors from the EEC/UK and Japan, representing highly respected steel industry and business consultancies who form part of East West Line Parks Limited technical advisory team flew into North Queensland in March 2013 for an inspection tour of the major new steel project and satellite suburb to be located at Abbot Point. 

The site tour follows a briefing on the project given to Whitsunday Regional Council and also follows a signing ceremony in Japan late last year where one of the world’s leading consulting firms signed a formal agreement to participate in the early stages of the project. 

When completed, the project could position Australia, in partnership with its major trading nations, as a globally competitive first stage steel producer. 

The Tokyo based and internationally respected Nomura Research Institute, Ltd (NRI), is assisting in the development of Project Iron Boomerang (PIB), proposed by Brisbane based East West Line Parks Limited (EWLP). 

Project Iron Boomerang will link iron ore-rich Western Australia with the coalfields of Queensland by a continental heavy haul rail line. At either end of the line dedicated, large-scale “Steel Parks” will manufacture first stage steel products (e.g. slab steel) for supply to expanding steel markets in Asia and the rest of the world. 

EWLP is also currently working with Tata Steel UK Consulting Ltd. (TSC) which is providing basic engineering design, “build and construct” management services for the PIB iron and steel parks at Abbot Point Port, Queensland and Newman, Western Australia. 

According to our initial estimates, the project has the potential to create 20,000 new jobs at Abbot Point: 

• 5,000 new jobs in the industrial complex;
• 15,000 new jobs in direct supporting industries;
• A total of 20,000 people in the residential area to support the above; and