good or bad , page-27

Buswell sinks iron ore export from Freo
GARETH PARKER, The West Australian May 17, 2011, 2:55 am

*
* tweet0
* Email
* Print

Transport Minister Troy Buswell has sided with Fremantle MP Adele Carles to block an aspiring miner from exporting iron ore through Fremantle Harbour.

Cazaly Resources wants to export 1.4 million tonnes of iron ore through Fremantle for a year as a stopgap measure while port capacity is increased at Esperance.

Cazaly's initial plan to use the Kwinana bulk terminal was scuttled when Fremantle Ports allocated new iron ore capacity at the terminal to a rival miner.

There is no capacity to increase the amount of iron ore handled by the State-owned Kwinana or Esperance ports, threatening the ability of smaller miners to feed demand from overseas customers.

Yesterday, Ms Carles called a press conference to oppose the plan, declaring it would open the door to Fremantle becoming a bulk commodities port.

"This is Fremantle, it's not Port Hedland, and I do not want to see Fremantle become a bulk commodities port to service the mining boom," she said.

"I don't want to see Fremantle residents being put into an experiment about this sort of dust suppression (technology).

"We don't want any iron ore in Fremantle."

Mr Buswell confirmed Ms Carles - with whom he is in a personal relationship - had raised the matter with him.

He said the Government would not support the mining company's proposal.

"The Government's position is that bulk commodities such as iron ore will not be shipped through the Fremantle Inner Harbour," he said.

Cazaly said its transport system, pioneered in South Australia, had "proven dustless".

It involves containers of ore being emptied on to ships using a rotary loader.

The company told the Australian Securities Exchange on Thursday it had a "well advanced" option to export 1.4 million tonnes of iron ore through Fremantle in the first year of its Parker Range mine.

It would expand to 4.6 million tonnes which would be shipped through Esperance when an expansion of that port was finished.

Opposition Leader Eric Ripper questioned whether due process had been followed, saying it was the second time Mr Buswell had come out in concert with Ms Carles to oppose a development proposal before the Government's assessment processes were complete.

The first instance was a plan to mine coal in Margaret River.

"Apparently we don't need an Environmental Protection Authority, we just need Troy and Adele," Mr Ripper said.
Mr Buswell said it was entirely appropriate for the Government, as the owner of the ports, to make strategic decisions about what was exported through them.