Western Desert Resources haul road
Submitted: Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 00:33
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Been-Everywhereman
It blew me away to know there was a bitumen road which linked
Lorella Springs to
Roper Bar which was in mint condition with fully erected bridges able to withstand year round conditions including the wet season. What a tease, it took us 2 days carefully towing a caravan to get from Lorella to
Roper Bar when 150 tonne trucks can do the same run in 2 hours using this purpose built bitumen road. For the people that already know this (sorry to
bore you).
Reply By: Member Andys Adventures - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 09:58
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 09:58
Sorry to tell you but that is a haul road for the
mine and not to be accessed by the public. We even have trouble getting across it as they took away our tracks that went to the coast and Rosie fishing
camp. Theses tracks are now replaced but be carful when crossing it.
We can not even use it in the wet season to get to town. It is a pain in the side of our pants having this road in the middle of
Lorella Springs.
Worst part is WDR is broke and not carting Iron Ore to the port at Bing Bong at the moment. So we have a road to nowhere.
The road did have problems in the wet season and did flood in
places.
Cheers Andy
AnswerID:
540631
Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 05:27
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 05:27
G'day Andy,
So who owns the road? If it'd WDR and they are not using it now or in the future then what stops you using the road?
Just asking!
Kind regards
FollowupID:
826563
Follow Up By: Member Andys Adventures - Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 09:14
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 09:14
The haul road is owned by WDR and forms part of the
mine. The land was take from the Lorella lease. As it is a will all ways be a
mine haul road. And after watching them build the
bridge over the Rosie creek, you wouldn't want to drive over it in the wet season.
They are lucky not to have had a good wet season yet as the last 3 were very tame.
Cheers Andy
FollowupID:
826569
Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 09:43
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 09:43
Thanks, it looks like it inconveniently cuts
Lorella Springs in half according to the map below. Otherwise it looks pretty convenient and I hope you get a good wet soon.
Kind regards
Ps still think about my time at
Lorella Springs, hopefully get back there one day.
FollowupID:
826570
Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 22:19
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 22:19
Changed over at
Barkly Homestead earlier this year, with a bloke who was doing a run from
Darwin, on his R n R.
Said they did 2 trips a day, but wasn't happy as the bitumen surface was breaking up badly in some
places. Probably had to slow down? :-)
Good loot apparently, something like $2K plus/week. Pay rate wouldn't be too good at moment, I'd suspect!
Found this map on WDR website today.
WDR Haul Road
Did see a good photo on an ABC article, which I couldn't download, of a crossing on one of the rivers. Appeared to just be an earth weir, with some pipes through the base. Whether this was only temporary, or a "permanent" fix I don't know.
There are numerous photos on their website too, but are very low resolution so don't copy
well.
Bob
AnswerID:
540666
Reply By: Member - KBAD - Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:35
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:35
Fished
Home creek at Bing Bong years ago a few years before they were due to start to build the facilities there to load the barge's it was originally developed for
McArthur River mine, the company bought Bing Bong Station to facilitate it, bought a couple of other stations and gave them to the local indigenous people as a trade off for the ability to do what they wanted. It was a beautiful little system with fish everywhere doubt much is left of it. Same story as elsewhere mining companies will promise you the world to get access unfortunately from a landholder perspective that is about all you will ever get out of them, promises.
AnswerID:
540679