New plan for Gove as bauxite mine closure draws near

Plans for a new green hydrogen plant could be a saviour for a remote Northern Territory town. Read what’s planned.

ThousandS of jobs and hundreds-of-millions in investment dollars could flow to a Top End regional town in coming years if a landmark green hydrogen project takes hold.

Allied Green Ammonia and Gumatj Corporation this week signed a memorandum of understanding to develop green hydrogen and green ammonia production facilities at Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory.

The proposed production facility will produce 165,000 tons of green hydrogen annually, which will be used to produce 912,500 tons of green ammonia annually.

Proponents said the project would create 2000 direct and indirect jobs during construction with an additional 500 direct and indirect jobs once completed.

The Gove green hydrogen MOU was signed at NT Resources Week with Dr Howard Smith from the NT government, Alfred Benedict from Allied Green Ammonia, Klaus Helms from Gumatj Corporation, Emir Aziz, Allied Green Ammmonia and Alister Trier, NT government.

Gumatj chief executive Klaus Helms said the announcement at NT Resources week showed there was economic life in Gove after Rio Tinto’s bauxite operation shuts by end of decade.

“This gives us hope there are projects around we can develop over here,” Mr Helms said.

“If we can negotiate our way through the land issues and the Section 19 changes then we can start negotiations between the Northern Land Council, Department of Mines, Rio Tinto and Gumatj Corporation.

“I’m very optimistic but I’m also cautious.”

Section 19 leases are a mechanism for granting rights to use Aboriginal land in the Territory under the Aboriginal land rights Act, and are managed by the land councils.

A Section 19 lease allows government, businesses organisations and individuals to apply to a land council for leases over specific areas of Aboriginal land.

Equatorial Launch Australia has done a deal with Phantom Space Corporation and will hopefully launch more rockets in 2025.

When a Section 19 lease is applied for, the land council consults with traditional owners and other affected Aboriginal groups to determine each proposal.

The successful negotiation of a Section 19 lease will be crucial to the development going ahead.

Mr Helms said one of the attractions for potential investors was the existing infrastructure at Rio’s Gove bauxite operation, which made the delivery of large projects more achievable.

“I can provide the port, power and water for developers,” he said.

“It’s the infrastructure I can provide and the land for the solar. You have to light the fuse and see what happens.”

The next step would be to secure a binding MOU followed by a project feasibility study.

“The key is that when Rio pulls down the bauxite operation we want to make sure we have a customer base and an ability to grow for the region.”

With Rio’s bauxite mine expected to close by 2030, Gumatj explored a range of alternative industries and last year hosted space agency NASA’s first non-American space launch when three satellite rockets were launched at Equatorial Launch Australia’s Gove operation.

It’s anticipated the next space launch will be 2025.