Melbourne (Platts)--11Feb2013/544 am EST/1044 GMT
Iron ore miner Rio Tinto has welcomed the Australian Competition Tribunal's decision Monday to allow it to maintain sole use of its Western Australia-based Hamersley and Robe River rail lines. Rio Tinto's acting iron ore chief executive Paul Shannon said Monday: "Rio Tinto runs a highly efficient railway that is fully integrated with our port and mine operations. "This would be severely hindered if third parties were allowed to run trains on our rail network, not to mention the knock-on negative effects on the Western Australian and national economies from creating such inefficiencies." Last year, Fortescue Metals appealed a decision by the Federal Court that third parties could not access Rio's rail network. That decision overturned federal treasure Wayne Swan's 2008 decision that third parties could access Rio Tinto's iron ore railways for 20 years. Article continues below...Request a free trial of: Steel Markets DailySteel Markets Daily provides transparent daily and weekly assessments of iron ore, coking coal, coke, ferrous scrap and ferroalloys prices, plus insightful analysis and commentary on the day's market activities.
Iron ore miner Rio Tinto has welcomed the Australian Competition Tribunal's decision Monday to allow it to maintain sole use of its Western Australia-based Hamersley and Robe River rail lines. Rio Tinto's acting iron ore chief executive Paul Shannon said Monday: "Rio Tinto runs a highly efficient railway that is fully integrated with our port and mine operations. "This would be severely hindered if third parties were allowed to run trains on our rail network, not to mention the knock-on negative effects on the Western Australian and national economies from creating such inefficiencies." Last year, Fortescue Metals appealed a decision by the Federal Court that third parties could not access Rio's rail network. That decision overturned federal treasure Wayne Swan's 2008 decision that third parties could access Rio Tinto's iron ore railways for 20 years.
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Steel Markets Daily provides transparent daily and weekly assessments of iron ore, coking coal, coke, ferrous scrap and ferroalloys prices, plus insightful analysis and commentary on the day's market activities.
Rio Tinto has said previously that its Pilbara operations would be "severely impacted" if third parties were allowed to run trains on its network. The miner is expected to reach annual production of 360 million mt/year of iron ore from its Pilbara operations by 2015, from the current 237 million mt/year. The Hamersley line is viewed as a "principal artery" of the company's operations in the Pilbara, linking 10 of its 12 mines to the coast. The Hamersley line links major Rio Tinto iron ore resources to Port Hedland for export to north Asia and Europe. New Pilbara-region iron ore miners have claimed lack of access to the private rail lines is hampering development and greater competition in supplies with those from the two largest incumbents, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. --Marnie Hobson, marnie_hobson@platts.com--Edited by Deepa Vijiyasingam, deepa_vijiyasingam@platts.com
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