Cement Australia to receive AUD52.9m in government funding

Cement Australia’s kiln facility in Railton, Tasmania, is due to receive AUD52.9m (US$34.4m) in funding from the country’s federal government. 

The kiln upgrade will allow the Railton plant to begin using biomass instead of coal, when it produces clinker and cement, as part of a federal initiative to help reduce companies’ carbon emissions. 

Once operational, the kiln upgrade in Railton will generate 10 new permanent jobs and as many as 230 temporary positions, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change and Energy.

Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Bowen, will visit Tasmania on Wednesday to announce the recipients of nine government grants, three of which are local to the region. The other two local companies being funded are iron ore producer Grange Resources and manganese smelter Liberty Bell Bay.

Mr Bowen will announce AUD330m in grants from the Powering the Regions Fund for industrial facilities with “hard-to-abate” emissions in Queensland, NSW, Western Australia and Tasmania.

“The investment into northern, north-west and the west coast of Tasmania will not only provide jobs in regional Tasmania for years to come, but also meet the demand for low emissions products from around the world to be made right here in Tasmania,” said Tasmanian Senator, Anne Urquhart.

Birkenhead investment
As well as the Railton kiln project, the minister said the Adbri Birkenhead plant, at Port Adelaide, is receiving an investment if AUD50m to install a vertical role mill for making low-carbon cement and to reduce emissions intensity.