88娱乐城
Yesterday the court rejected FMG鈥檚 appeal and upheld an earlier Australian Competition Tribunal ruling that Rio Tinto could keep its key Hamersley rail line closed from third party access.
The court also ruled in favour of a Rio appeal, which will allow the mining giant to entirely shut out third party access of its Robe River line in the region.
FMG had sought to keep it open until 2028, instead of until 2018.
While FMG could seek to take these matters to the Supreme Court, a spokesperson told Bloomberg the company was building its own infrastructure.
FMG鈥檚 legal frays over third-party rail access in this state have been ongoing for seven years and there are implications for the country鈥檚 other key bulk mining commodity of coal.
Over in Queensland鈥檚 undeveloped Galilee Basin there are three separate plans to build rail lines of around 500km each to link up to Abbot Point.
These include Adani Group鈥檚 rail for its Carmichael project targeting 60 million tonnes per annum, and the rail for the up to 60Mtpa anticipated from Hancock Coal鈥檚 projects led by Gina Rinehart.
Rival billionaire Clive Palmer is behind a separate rail proposal to link the up to 40Mtpa China First project shared by his company Waratah Coal and Metallurgical Corporation of China.
While a combined Galilee rail development linking all the planned mines would reduce total costs and face less skilled labour challenges, the legal battles over rail access in WA might serve as a deterrent.
The only other major proposed development in the region, Bandanna Energy and AMCI鈥檚 South Galilee project, is based on third-party rail access.
鈥淎ll three of these proponents have indicated to AMCI that they will provide such access and discussions to date indicate that a commercially acceptable agreement will be reached with one of those proponents prior to completion of a definitive feasibility study,鈥� Bandanna said on the issue last week.
