Western Queensland's economic development body, the Remote Area Planning and Development Board, has provided a $50,000 grant to support a technical feasibility study for the plan to develop a wool processing plant in Blackall.
It's the first time the board has given out such a grant.
Described as a visionary plan to have Australia riding on the sheep's back again, RAPAD chairman Tony Rayner said they understood that the wool industry was an excellent economic and population driver for the region.
"That's why we have worked hard on exclusion fencing and why we are now supporting the Blackall region to process greasy wool so the region can capitalise on our raw products," Cr Rayner said. "RAPAD can see the long-term potential benefits to the nation and the entire region, not just Blackall-Tambo."
The Blackall-Tambo Regional Council commissioned a study into the feasibility of establishing an end-to-end wool processing plant in 2020.
The report found it was economically viable once value-adding was added to the scouring and carbonising process, and would give an enormous economic boost to the whole central west region.
Queensland Wool Processors, or QWool, is the group taking the proposal forward and its seed funding proposal closes this Friday, November 19.
Chairman John Abbott said that in the phase they were in, the more seed capital they had, the quicker they would be able to do the work required to make the project happen.
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The RAPAD grant is said to assist in progressing an initial offering in the venture.
"There's quite a lot of activities to do and they cost a lot," Mr Abbott said. "We can do it quicker with more money."
He said QWool was currently engaging with an engineer to undertake the whole design, which was a key component of the project.
"We are pretty close to the target we are looking for to do the work that's needed," he said, adding that another shareholder had signed up this week.
Blackall-Tambo mayor and RAPAD director Andrew Martin, who is an advisor to QWool, said jobs and investment would flow through the entire central west if they were able to grow the wool, process it and supply woollen products to the market from the region.
The technical feasibility study will assist in securing an in-principal agreement from the state government for water, secure an option to acquire land for development, develop a labour force strategy for construction and operations, continue work on a logistic strategy for supply and customers, establish electricity supply strategy, and help develop a capital estimate for the plant.
Mr Abbott said that by the middle of next year they were looking to go to full equity for the proposal, and were hoping to apply to the North Australia Infrastructure Fund for funding.
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Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
