Looks like the Esperance upgrade has been pushed back, Mindax would be looking at a late 2014 startup date at the earliest according to this article stating Port upgrades are pencilled in for the second half of 2013.
Hope Springs Eternal at Esperance: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/hope-springs-eternal-at-esperance-port/story-fnay3vxj-1226399192702
MINERS eyeing Esperance port as their favoured gateway for iron ore exports to Asia must be ruefully noting the French translation of its name: hope.
A market-sounding exercise launched by the West Australian government at the weekend for expanding Esperance port, initially by about 20 million tonnes a year, sounds promising enough.
Expressions of interest are due by next Tuesday from iron ore miners, investors, banks, infrastructure providers and engineering firms interested in financing, building and managing a new multi-user iron ore facility at the port.
But for new and would-be producers in the state's Yilgarn region, the state government offered little encouragement that they will have a route to market any time soon.
Subject to the findings of the market sounding, a procurement process will begin early next year with the aim of selecting a preferred proponent "by the third quarter of 2013", Esperance Ports Sea and Land said.
Esperance port is fully owned by the WA government, which said in January that it was committed to expanding the facility on the state's southern coast into a new regional iron ore hub after Dampier, Port Hedland and Geraldton.
But the government's leisurely pace in choosing private groups to drive the expansion won't please miners eager to get their projects under way, especially as the China-driven commodities boom has recently shown signs of losing momentum.
Iron ore prices have fallen this year after China built up large stockpiles and worries increased that growth in the Asian economic powerhouse is slowing.
Junior companies Mindax, Cazaly Resources, Golden West Resources and Indian-backed Legacy Iron are among companies pushing for Esperance port space, while established producers Mineral Resources and US-based Cliffs Natural Resources are expanding their operations.
All are members of the Yilgarn Iron Producers Association, a lobby group known as YIPA pushing for a speedier upgrade, which might cost about $1 billion to build.
"While we are very happy the process has begun, it is too slow for our liking," YIPA chief executive David Utting said.
The group is in discussions with the port and believes there is scope to speed up the process.
Cliffs Natural Resources is the port's only iron ore exporter. The port says the US miner, which transports its product by rail from its Koolyanobbing operations, is expected to export more than 11 million tonnes of iron ore to Asian markets this year.
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