The McArthur River zinc mine is in Australia’s remote Northern Territory. Ultimately worth billions of dollars to the local economy, it also provides a vivid illustration of the challenges presented by mining and asphalt paving in remote locations.
To give an idea of how remote we’re talking here, the nearest town is Borroloola, population 926. During the wet season, travel from Borroloola along Highway One across the coastal plain to Queensland is impossible. It’s underwater. Borroloola airport is home base for two aircraft, both single-engine Cessna. If you look at Google Earth, you see a small town and a whole lot of brown and green. There isn’t a lot happening in Borroloola. And the McArthur River Mine is another hour’s drive further into the wilderness.
If you want asphalt under such conditions, you better be self-sufficient. And that’s exactly what McArthur River Mine is accomplishing—using EZ Street cold asphalt.
The EZ Street product can be stored onsite at the mine in bulk. The product remains workable for a year. And it’s ready to work the second you are. In the case of a McArthur River Mine, they’re using it both to patch the runway on their airport, and for internal road maintenance.
To provide an idea of the sophistication of the McArthur River Mine operation, they are part of Glencore Xstrata. This one of the largest natural resource companies in the world, and one of the biggest companies on the FTSE 100 Index. They have 90 offices around the world. This is a complex operation with extensive resources. And there’s one choice for McArthur River Mine, out there in the sticks, where reliance on their vehicles, their heavy equipment and their planes it critical: the choice is EZ Street asphalt. We’ll take that as an implicit recommendation.
