At Port Adelaide, the main maritime gateway for South Australia, inbound and outbound cargoes include grains and seeds, limestone, petroleum products, motor vehicles, metals and scrap metal, cement and cement clinker, fertilisers, agricultural commodities, iron ore, iron and steel, break-bulk and general cargo, mineral sands, and mineral concentrates.
[4] The expansion of South Australia's mining sector resulted in further development of Flinders Ports infrastructure.
[5] In 2012, OZ Minerals, owners of the Prominent Hill Mine, and Flinders Logistics developed a more efficient transport system from mine to ship to reduce double handling of copper concentrates, bypass a concentrates shed and traditional loading facilities, and achieve high environmental standards, especially through minimising potential dust emissions.
The system involved low-sided containers with fail-safe lockable lids, each loaded with about 30 metric tons (30 long tons) of concentrate at the mine, moved by road and rail to container stacks on Berth 29 to await arrival of the ship.
Suppression of dust is secured by a mist spray system designed for the specific particle sizes of the concentrate.