With Western Australia’s annual iron ore sales forecast to rise to 804 million tonnes by 2018–19, there is a need for additional export capacity to ship the commodity out of the State.
To address this requirement, the Western Australian Government is facilitating the development of a multi-user deep water port and industrial precinct at Anketell in the Pilbara. It is expected that the port, located 30 kilometres east of Karratha and 10 kilometres west of Cape Lambert, will have an eventual export capacity of at least 350 million tonnes.
Initially, the port will concentrate on iron ore exports from miners in the west and middle Pilbara and will form a critical piece of the supply chain for stranded resources to be sent to overseas markets.
In June 2014, the Western Australian Government released the
Anketell Port Master Plan, which was jointly developed by the department and the Dampier Port Authority, and involved extensive consultation with stakeholders, including LandCorp, Main Roads, the Shire of Roebourne and industry. The Master Plan details important information pertaining to the project, including strategic objectives and an engineering design for the port at full capacity.
A joint venture, consisting of American Metal and Coal International, Chinese steel maker Baosteel, Aurizon Holdings, and Korean steel maker POSCO, is targeting the development of a new deep water port at Anketell and a 280 kilometre railway to support at least 40 million tonnes per annum throughput from eight mining areas in the Pilbara.