New push for ‘game changing’ and lucrative Lamb Range tunnel

Rare minerals, quarry products and produce trucked to Cairns would unlock lucrative income streams if a reliable heavy vehicle route connected the coast with the port.

Traffic driving on the stretch of Kennedy Highway between Smithfield and Kuranda, better know as the Kuranda Range Road. Heavy vehicles including trucks, buses and caravans, as well as cars frequently use the roadway. Picture: Brendan Radke

Lucrative rare minerals, quarry products and produce trucked to the Cairns port would unlock new income streams if a reliable heavy vehicle route connected the coast with the port, according to advocates of an alternative Tablelands access route.

A question from Kennedy MP Bob Katter to the Northern Australia Minister, urging support for an access tunnel was met with disappointment last week when Madeleine King declined to wholeheartedly embrace the Bridle Track tunnel.

Ms King in her response said the Kuranda range was a “difficult road and it does have its problems”, also acknowledging the “geographical challenges” in getting items from the Kennedy electorate to the port of Cairns.

“(The Bridle Track) is a very large undertaking, and there has been much discussion about it,” she said.

In 2022 Hill MP Shane Knuth, Kennedy MP Bob Katter and KAP candidate for Leichhardt Rod Jensen let of mock explosions to "blast" the major parties into action on the Bridle Track tunnel. Picture: Supplied

“I’m more than happy to speak with the relevant minister, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, with regard to this.”

A dismayed Kennedy MP lashed the government for “lacking commitment” but remained focused on his Bridle Track vision.

“Whilst we are disappointed in the minister’s response during question time, we are determined to ensure the Bridle Track Tunnel is constructed to unlock the riches of the Tablelands and Gulf Country, and provide essential emergency evacuation during natural disasters,” Mr Katter said.

EQ Resources chief executive Kevin MacNeill said the export of tungsten from Mount Carbine must be done through the Townsville port due to the need of a container ship facility.

But he said the use of reliable, heavy vehicle access into the Cairns market to sell up to 18 quarry products, including road base would be groundbreaking for the business.

“For the quarry business it would be a game changer,” he said.

“It would be very helpful getting into the Cairns market and if that was the case we could set up a brick making operation.

“We would love to see it happen and if (we get the contract to supply the materials,) we do make a very good road base.”

EQ Resources were awarded the tender to explore the former Wolfram Camp and Bamford Hill mines. Picture: supplied

But not everyone is in favour of going through the range, with the Queensland Trucking Association concerned about the limitations of a tunnel.

“We don’t really support the tunnel solution, it is not an ideal solution for carrying dangerous goods or for Australian defence movements,” A QTA spokeswoman said.

“It would need to be a paid toll road as well to cover costs.”

The Bridle Track is a $1.5bn proposal championed by Mr Katter that involves 16km of road from Davies Creek and a 1-2km tunnel through Lamb Range to link up with the Bruce Highway near Mount Sheridan.

Before the TC Jasper landslide event, the Kuranda Range closed 44 times a year for an average duration of 6.6 hours between 2015 and 2019.

With the route now reduced to single lane operation in two places since December and the Barron River bridge also indefinitely down to one lane, more than ever, poor road access to Cairns is a major impediment to the transport of goods and regional growth.

The new funding worth $20m earlier this year offered a pathway to extend EQ Resources' Mount Carbine mining operations beyond 2029.

Tablelands longan grower Ross Cardillo was wary of backing the Bridle Track proposal over other alternate routes but made it clear a better road was desperately needed.

“As a grower we need better transport links to the coast and to the south,” he said.

“FNQ has everything, and it could stand for Forgotten North Queensland, but (the region) has everything, if the government were to spend the money the return on that investment would be phenomenal.

“We have agriculture, farming, minerals and mining, we just need infrastructure.”

Queensland Trucking Association spokeswoman Frances Schafer​​​​ said the group was reluctant to support the tunnel proposal due to limitations of enclosed roadways.

“It’s not an ideal solutions for carrying dangerous goods or for Australian defence movements,” she said.

“And it would need to be a paid toll road as well, to cover costs.”

Vanadium, tungsten, cobalt and titanium are just some of the minerals waiting to be extracted from the North West Minerals Province, which Minister King said last week were “vital for the economy and for the development of the resources sector”.

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Originally published as New push for ‘game changing’ and lucrative Lamb Range tunnel