WA this week – 10 years ago
Griffin project hit by gas delay
BHP Petroleum said production from the onshore gas project near Onslow had halted while significant modifications and repairs were made, this week 10 years ago.
BHP had not delivered gas from the plant since early April that year and the company said it could be offline for two more months.
Following commissioning of the Griffin offshore project a year earlier the plant had experienced many operating problems with pumps, power generation and refrigeration compression units.
Under its contract with the Tubridgi joint venture, BHP was able to deliver up to 40 terajoules per day.
THE expansion of iron ore mining, shipping operations and the LNG project on the Burrup Peninsula was threatened by native title claims over large areas. The Native Title Tribunal was to consider whether the claim satisfied federal legislation and whether it should be accepted. The claim was made by the Ngamula and Injiandi people.
WA-BASED gold mining company Perilya Mines said exploration done in the previous 12 months at its Fortnum mine site in WA had boosted gold reserves by 114,000 ounces to 269,000 ounces.
Perilya bought the Fortnum mine from Homestake Gold in December 1993 for $6 million and it had produced 45,000 ounces for the company in the previous 13 months.
In April, 2003, Perilya made an agreement with Gleneagle Gold, an unlisted company, granting Gleneagle the option to purchase the Fortnum project. Following the completion of their IPO in July 2003, Gleneagle exercised their option to purchase a 100 per cent interest in Fortnum.
CHINESE boatpeople staged a mass break-out from a detention centre in the north-west of the state. About 100 Chinese detainees left the centre after what officials described as a disturbance in their dining room, and began walking along a road to the nearest town of Derby.
However, the group agreed to return to the centre after talks with security officers. According to reports, the detainees involved in the break-out were ethnic Chinese originally from Vietnam, who arrived in Darwin from Beihai in southern China two months earlier.
BLACK Magic, the New Zealand America’s Cup contender won the fifth race of the best of nine series to bring the cup back down under.
Black Magic’s skipper, Russell Coutts became the third challenging skipper to win the cup in its 144-year history and the second to win every race of the match.
The first successful challenger was John Bertrand, skipper of Australia II, who beat American Dennis Conner in 1983 to bring the cup to Fremantle. Conner then challenged in 1987, winning 4-0, to take the cup to San Diego.
New Zealand held onto the trophy in 2000 before losing to Switzerland in 2003.