Ravenswood Gold is supplying about 140,000 tonnes of rock towards Port of Townsville’s $193 million Channel Upgrade Project, with the first mighty truckloads arriving yesterday.

It’s a case of turning trash to treasure for the port project, as the material is being drawn from the gold mine’s waste rock.

The majority of the rocks weigh in at four to eight tonnes – making them suited for the armour on the outside of the rock wall that will  protect a 62ha Port Reclamation Area.

“The first loads started to arrive yesterday and we expect it to be ongoing for about six months,” Port of Townsville general manager infrastructure and environment Marissa Wise said.

She said MGN Civil was responsible for sorting the rock at the Ravenswood mine site, loading it and transporting the material to Townsville.

More than 700,000 tonnes of core and armour rock in total are expected to be required for the rock wall, being built by Hall Contracting.

Holcim is also supplying material for the project from its Roseneath quarry, while HY-TEC also has a contract to supply rock from its quarry at Calcium.

Ms Wise said construction of the rock wall would precede the widening of the Townsville shipping channel.

That stage of the project is scheduled to start in 2021 and be completed in 2023.

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