Building the first of anything is difficult.
As the operator of Australia’s sole geological repository for hazardous waste – at Sandy Ridge, in the WA Goldfields – Tellus knows this better than most.
With Sandy Ridge fully operational, and recently passing the milestone of accepting 100,000 tonnes of waste through the gate, we are focusing on another pioneering project – the world’s first purpose-built multi-national hazardous waste facility, at Chandler in the Northern Territory.
Situated in a salt-bed that reaches depths up to 800m below the earth’s surface, Chandler will be a deep geological repository – another first for Australia, and the safest type of hazardous waste disposal facility in use worldwide.
At last week’s Mining the Territory conference in Darwin, part of NT Resources Week, Tellus’ Head of External Affairs Ryan Bloxsom briefed an audience including key industry leaders, opinion makers, government representatives and experts on what has already been an exciting year of developments for the Chandler vision.
In July we announced that Amentum will lead a strategic review of Chandler, including technical feasibility, timelines, financial viability, risk management and environmental impact.
Headquartered in Virginia in the United States, Amentum is a leader in global engineering, project management and solutions integration.
Chandler will likely be viable only if it is licensed to receive waste from international customers. Ryan also outlined to delegates how Tellus has recently commenced market-testing for Chandler in the Asia-Pacific.
Social licence, another strand in Tellus’ DNA, was also a theme of the conference, and Ryan detailed Tellus’ lock-step partnership with the Titjikala Native Title Party around its Chandler vision, supported by the Central Land Council.
With a new Territory Government promising a renewed focus on major projects, spreading the word on Chandler could hardly be more timely or more relevant.
