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Pilbara infrastructure wrangle in court NICK EVANS he West...

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    Pilbara infrastructure wrangle in court

    NICK EVANS
    he West Australian
    August 19, 2014, 7:16 am
    The West Australian
    UPDATE 10.35am: Hopes of a new export terminal for junior miners at Port Hedland are in danger of being overtaken by events elsewhere in the Pilbara, with the Supreme Court yesterday told Atlas Iron and Brockman Mining's South West Creek berth is unlikely to be built before 2019.
    The comment was made by lawyers for Fortescue Metals Group's infrastructure arm during a hearing into Brockman's application to force its way onto The Pilbara Infrastructure's rail line.
    Brockman's bid for access to the line under the State's Railways Access Code said it wanted to start shipping ore from its 15 million tonne-a-year Marillana mine by late 2016.
    But lawyers for TPI told the court that documents provided by North West Infrastructure, jointly controlled by Atlas and Brockman, showed the 50mtpa South West Creek berth could not be ready until at least 2019.
    TPI lawyers accused Brockman of not having a "real and genuine intention" of winning access to the line to run its own trains. They claimed the iron ore junior was using the access code to try to reserve space on the line and force the Fortescue subsidiary to negotiate a haulage deal for Brockman ore using TPI's own rolling stock.
    The court heard claims Brockman could not put forward a realistic proposal to export its own ore using TPI's rail line but its own trains and port space as there were "significant issues" at the South West Creek berth.
    Those issues included difficulty in negotiating permanent tenure for NWI at Port Hedland because proof of financing for the berths was needed before a permanent lease could be signed.
    Brockman is still to respond to TPI's legal arguments in court but if unchallenged the claims could cast doubt on the viability of both Atlas and Brockman's long-term ambitions at Port Hedland.
    Baosteel's entry into the Pilbara, courtesy of its bid with Aurizon for Aquila Resources, means a new open port at Anketell is again a possibility.
    If Anketell is ready by late 2017, as the pair propose, the new port would likely become the major focus for emerging miners with no access to Pilbara export space.
    Atlas Iron shares were up 0.7 cents, or 1.01 per cent, to 69.7 cents at 10.35am while Brockman shares were off 0.3 cents, or 6.25 per cent, to 4.5 cents.

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/r...9019/pilbara-infrastructure-wrangle-in-court/
 
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