PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Freight operator Aurizon and the mine participants for the West Pilbara iron-ore project are keeping an eye on the iron-ore price, before taking a development decision on the project.
Aurizon reported on Monday that the company would provide the project participants, which include Korean major Posco, American Metals & Coal International and Baosteel Resources, with an indicative and nonbinding tariff for port and rail services for the proposed project by the end of November.
Aurizon and the project participants were also expected to meet at the end of December to review this tariff, along with initial feasibility studies for mine and infrastructure, and based on project economics and market views, to determine whether to continue work to complete a definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the West Pilbara project.
The first stage of the West Pilbara project would involve the development of a new deep-water port at Anketell, and a 280 km railway to support at least a 40-million-tonne-a-year throughput, from eight mining areas.
The infrastructure could be expanded in the future to accommodate additional tonnage from foundation customers and other miners, with the Anketell port estimated to have a potential to export about 350-million tonnes a year of ore.
Aurizon said on Monday that if the decision was taken to proceed with a DFS for mine and infrastructure, by April next year, the parties would meet at the end of May to discuss the outcome of this study and a binding tariff agreement.
A final investment decision on the project was currently contemplated for late 2016, Aurizon said, subject to the milestones being met and to the long-term fundamentals of the iron-ore market.