28 NT NEWS. Wednesday, January 23, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au

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TUC rare earths sell-offTERRITORY prospector TUCResources intends to sell halfthe rights of a new rareearths project to China.

The Chinese, which pro-duce more than 90 per cent ofthe world’s rare earth el-ements, recently bought a24.8 per cent stake in Arafura

Resources’ rare earths pro-ject at Aileron through state-owned company ECE NolansInvestment Company.

The previous Labor Gov-ernment flew TUC Resourcesalong with a delegation ofmining hopefuls to China in2011 for a seminar to spruik

mining in the NT. The ex-ploration company has nowsigned a memorandum ofunderstanding with theShandong Provincial Bureauof Geology and Mineral Re-sources (SDGM).

It forms a joint venture toexploit deposits found at the

Stromberg project on FishRiver Station, about 70kmsouthwest of Adelaide River.

The area is thought to con-tain heavy elements includ-ing Yttrium, Terbium andDysprosium.

China sees rare earth el-ements as strategically im-

portant in its downstreammanufacturing industry,particularly in electronicsand hybrid motor vehicles.

The deal would see Chinapay $19 million in return fora 50 per cent stake over threefunding stages.

Shandong province is

home to a rare earth develop-ment zone that has process-ing facilities for the ore.

TUC Resources managingdirector Ian Bamboroughsaid the company would be-gin drilling again this year,spending up to $4 millionover the next 18 months.

Fishers combine voices against marine park planANGRY fishermen will gath-er by phone hook-up to workout how to respond to theFederal Government’s man-agement plans for the newMarine Park network.

Submissions close on Val-entine’s Day and the variousfishery groups have to work

out a united front, so theywill talk on January 29.

‘‘To date many of our ques-tions or submissions simplyremain unanswered,’’ saidNT Seafood Council chair-man Rob Fish.

The draft managementplan for the North Common-

wealth Marine Reserves Net-work covers more than150,000sq km in eight re-serves off the north coast ofthe Territory, stretchinginto Queensland and WA.

A few small areas in theWessel, Gulf of Carpentariaand West Cape York re-

serves are zoned as MarineNational Park which bansthe taking of anything livingor dead from there — includ-ing oil and gas.

The other zones allowsome recreational and char-ter fishing, tourism andaquaculture, mining and

some forms of commercialfishing subject to new regu-lations and permits.

Demersal longline and bot-tom trawling is banned in alleight reserves.

The draft plan can be seenat www.environment.gov.au/marinereserves

Boomers show lack of retirement centsMOST baby boomers are financiallyunprepared for retirement but don’tthink they’ll have to make sacrifices.

These are the findings of a REST In-dustry Super survey of 1200 peopleaged over 50 who have yet to retire.

One-in-three respondents admitted

they were completely financially un-prepared to take the jump, while a fur-ther 51 per cent said they were only‘‘somewhat’’ financially prepared.

Those surveyed were also reluctantto seek formal financial advice — only30 per cent had done so.

Selling NT to SingaporeTOURISM NT head Tony Mayall anddelegates from Territory tourism busi-nesses have gone to Singapore to talkup the industry.

Mr Mayall and the delegation,which includes Tourism MinisterMatt Conlan, will be meeting airlinesand travel agents to promote the Terr-itory. This will include talks withSingapore Airlines, SilkAir, Jetstarand Tiger Airways.

Business delegates from AAT Kings,Darwin Central Hotel, Darwin Reef ‘N’Wrecks, Great Southern Rail, Marra-

kai Luxury All Suites, NitmilukTours, On TourNT, SkyCity Darwinand Travel North are taking part.

Mr Conlan said Singapore wasthe closest Asian gateway to theNorthern Territory.

‘‘Visitation from Singapore to Aust-ralia grew by 12.9 per cent in the yearending November 2012 . . . and wewant to grow the Territory’s share inthat,’’ Mr Conlan said. Mr Mayall toldABC Radio last week that the Territ-ory had opportunities to attract visit-ors with fishing and birdwatching.

Secretsof taxrevenueTHE LIBERALS and theGreens have joined forcesto prise open the secrets ofthe Federal Government’smuch-vaunted minerals re-sources rent tax.

They believe the profit-based tax has actuallyraised no revenue.

Senator Matthias Cor-mann is to move a motionnext month to try to forcethe Commissioner of Taxat-ion to reveal how muchmoney the MRRT hasraised so far.

Governments are able tokeep royalty paymentssecret by privacy pro-visions in taxation law.

Similar provisions havelong kept Territorians inthe dark about how muchthey are being paid in re-turn for their minerals un-der the Territory’s profit-based royalty regime.

Independent member forNelson Gerry Wood tried tofind out in Parliament lastJune what individualminers pay in return forthe right to dig up publiclyowned minerals in theNorthern Territory.

‘‘It would be nice, I think,for people in the Territoryto know whether McArthurRiver pays any royalties orwhether Alcan is payingany royalties,’’ he said atthe time. ‘‘Why aren’t we al-lowed to know that?’’

The Commissioner forTaxation, Grant Parsons,said it was due to statutorycommercial-in-confidenceprovisions in the MineralRoyalties Act.