Rio Tinto update on rail network access in Pilbara

Monday, 31 Oct 2011

Earlier this year the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia unanimously ruled that the service provided by Rio Tinto's Pilbara rail lines should not be declared as being available for access to third parties.

Rio release said that “Today the High Court of Australia granted Fortescue Metals Group Ltd and the National Competition Council leave to pursue appeals in relation to the decision of the Full Federal Court.”

The release added “No date has been set for the hearing of these appeals but it is expected that they will be listed in the first half of 2012.”

It also said “Rio Tinto maintains that the potential costs of access far exceed any theoretical benefits. This was accepted in the findings of the Australian Competition Tribunal. Rio Tinto will therefore take all appropriate steps to defend these appeals.”

LLX and Vale may add rail line at Acu port

Thursday, 25 August 2011

LLX Logistica SA, a Brazilian port developer currently involved in the creation of the Acu port complex in Brazil, is studying the possibility of setting up a rail link to the Acu port with Vale subsidiary Ferrovia Centro Atlantica (FCA) railroad.

The rail link would transport bulk products such as steel, iron ore and coal between the Acu port and Brazil's national rail network.

In a separate report on Wednesday, Vale said that it has established a new logistics company--Vale Logistics Integrada SA--to increase general cargo operations. (sourced steelorbis)

S.Africa's RBCT shelves expansion plans-paper

Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:43am GMT
* Says increase in exports dependent to rail expansion
* RBCT's current capacity at 91 mln tonnes

JOHANNESBURG, March 30 (Reuters) - South Africa's Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) has shelved plans to increase export volumes until 2015 due to the slow pace of rail infrastructure expansion, the Business Report newspaper said on Wednesday.

South Africa is a major exporter of coal to power stations in Europe and Asia, but bottlenecks on the rail line leading to the Indian Ocean terminal are hampering shipments.

RBCT chief executive Raymond Chirwa said efforts to increase exports were frustrated because of limited infrastructure provided by state rail and logistics group Transnet [TRAN.UL].

"It would be irresponsible for RBCT to expand when the other items of the value chain have not expanded," Chirwa was quoted as saying.

"We can extend beyond 100 million tonnes a year but that depends on the performance of Transnet Freight Rail, which has not expanded its infrastructure to our 91 million tonnes capacity. At the moment there is a deficit in the rail."

An RBCT spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for a comment.

Transnet has been investing heavily in new and improved infrastructure, but is still far from meeting annual RBCT capacity of 91 million tonnes.

In 2010, South African coal exports rose to 63.43 million tonnes, boosted by demand from China and India.

Companies in the coal sector include Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote), Xstrata.(sourced:Reuters)

Murchison gets Oakajee extension from W. Australian government

Friday,Mar04,2011

The Australian iron ore exploration company Murchison Metals Ltd (Murchison) has announced that the government of Western Australia has agreed to grant an extension to the State Development Agreement (SDA) for the Oakajee port and rail infrastructure project in Western Australia.

Murchison and its partner in the Oakajee project, Mitsubishi Development (Mitsubishi), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, requested the extension following their announcement of revised project schedules for the Oakajee infrastructure project and the proposed expansion of the Jack Hills iron ore project on November 4, 2010.

The Jack Hills expansion project aims to expand current operations from nearly two million mt a year to 35 million mt a year, with an extended mine life of 25 years.

First shipments of ore through the new Oakajee Port are expected in late 2014/early 2015.

Tags: iron ore , raw mat , Australia , Oceania , investments , mining, Mitsubishi Development, jack Hills iron ore project