Golden West holds up offtake offers 10-March-09 by Rebecca Lawson
Golden West Resources says it is not seriously considering iron ore offtake offers it has received from China, Korea and Japan as it waits to get "visibility" on port and rail infrastructure before pursuing an arrangement.
Executive director John Lester said the company is receiving around two offers a day from companies keen for iron ore from its Wiluna West project in the Mid West region, which is currently in prefeasibility study stage.
"What we really need is to get visibility on the infrastructure, so that we know where we stand vies a vee the port at Oakajee and the railway and all those things," Mr Lester told WA Business News.
"We can't plan properly for the roll out of the mine till we know exactly what's going on with the infrastructure."
Golden West has secured one offtake agreement with Chinese company Hunan Valin Steel Company, which will take up to 5 million tonne of iron ore each year over a 15 year period.
Valin has also taken an 11.4 per cent stake in Golden West through a share placement, and has one representative on the iron ore junior's board.
Mr Lester added the company is continuing to explore exporting out of the Esperance port, however has thrown its weight behind Yilgarn Infrastructure which has submitted a $2 billion proposal to the state government.
"We don't understand why Yilgarn has not received any support from the government over its proposal to build a railway from us [Wiluna West] down to Geraldton and to Oakajee because that would answer all our problems," Mr Lester said.
"There has been no response from the government, and it's a fully funded proposal."
Last year, the state government announced Oakajee Port and Rail as the preferred proponent to build the $3.5 billion Oakajee deepwater port and associated rail.
A state agreement between Oakajee, a subsidiary owned by Murchison Metals and Mitsubishi Development, and the state government is expected to be finalised by the end of this month.
GWR Price at posting:
29.8¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
