Minerals Resources withdraws from negotiations to operate Kambalda Airport, spend $30 million upgrading it

The Shire of Coolgardie is proposing to continue operating Kambalda Airport itself after Mineral Resources withdrew from negotiations for a long-term lease and started flying workers into Kalgoorlie-Boulder on its own airline. An agenda item report to Tuesday’s shire of Coolgardie council meeting said MinRes had approached the shire in mid-2023 to buy the airport, but through discussions this was changed to a long-term lease discussion. The report said MinRes would have made a considerable investment to upgrade the airport. MinRes told the Kalgoorlie Miner last December it was proposing to spend $30 million improving the facility. “These negotiations have been active in good faith by both parties, however agreement on several key points was not able to be reached,” the report to last Tuesday’s meeting said. The report said the airport was an unsealed strip and affected by weather conditions and other issues such as low cloud and fog. “Due to this there has been a push for the airport to become an all-weather strip, with the runway being sealed, appropriate lighting being installed and other systems that will allow aircraft to land in poor weather,” the report said. The airport is also used by other companies with mines in the area, and the MinRes move had generated concern among them. “With MinRes advising the shire that it was unable to continue with the current negotiations due to not being able to meet with the shire expectations, (this) ceases this process and removes the ongoing concern for many key stakeholders,” the report said. “Due to council’s committed focus on the airport being open to all stakeholders, the current operations will continue into the future. “The airport, even without the MinRes flights, as they have been diverted to Kalgoorlie, is generating a profit to the shire and will continue to do so.” MinRes last month launched its inaugural flights to Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport on its own airline, MinRes Air, with an A320 operating on Thursday mornings bringing workers to the Mt Marion lithium mine 40km south-west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The council meeting report said any future upgrades to Kambalda Airport would be considered in the future when the council and the shire “had the time to focus on the steps forward and investigate funding opportunities and how it may be able to work with other stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes, without placing the ratepayers and residents at additional financial risk or burden”. The shire has this year been consumed by a financial crisis, with a debt of $27.52m at June 30 placing pressure on cash flows and prompting the reduction and reorganisation of services. MinRes has had its own difficulties in recent times — the company mothballed its Bald Hill operations in the Goldfields last November, not long after canning plans for underground expansion and scaling production back at Mt Marion, following the collapse of global lithium prices.