Gove Peninsula - Economy

Economy

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.

Nhulunbuy is a purpose built town developed by the former owner of Alcan Gove (Nabalco), a huge bauxite mine and alumina refinery 15 kilometres away. The town is built on a Special Purpose Lease on Aboriginal land and is now the largest town in East Arnhem Land, the fourth largest town in the Northern Territory and the administrative centre for the region.

The economy of the Gove Peninsula is centred on the Alcan Gove Mine and Refinery which is located of leasehold land within the boundaries of Aboriginal freehold land.

The Commonwealth Government carried out mineral explorations in the 1950s and was successful in discovering a bauxite deposit that covered 65 km2 and contained an estimated 250 million tonnes. After initial resistance by the government to mine, in 1964 Nabalco, the former owner of the mine and refinery, was set up and granted a lease with a commitment build a township, port facility and mine. The construction of the mine lead to the Gove land rights case which initially resulted in ruling in favour of the mineral company.

Read more about this topic:  Gove Peninsula

Famous quotes containing the word economy:

    I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.
    Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)

    It enhances our sense of the grand security and serenity of nature to observe the still undisturbed economy and content of the fishes of this century, their happiness a regular fruit of the summer.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    War. Fighting. Men ... every man in the whole realm is in the army.... Every man in uniform ... An economy entirely geared to war ... but there is not much war ... hardly any fighting ... yet every man a soldier from birth till death ... Men ... all men for fighting ... but no war, no wars to fight ... what is it, what does it mean?”
    Doris Lessing (b. 1919)