The West Australian Government said that it will look for an earlier opening for the Oakajee port after granting final approval for a new iron ore mine in the mid west.
Mr Donna Faragher environment minister of WA gave final environmental approval to Gindalbie Metals for its Karara project, east of Karratha.
He said that the project will now go to the Mr Peter Garrett federal environment minister for Commonwealth approval.
Mr Faragher said that it could start construction as early as next month but it may be limited by the lack of port access.
He said that the Oakajee port is not expected to be operating until 2014 and the State Government has placed a yearly cap of 12 million tonnes on the amount of iron ore that can be exported through Geraldton Port.
Mr Colin Barnett Premier of WA said that he is aware of the problem. He said that "We've got one group of people owning a mine, another to develop a rail and a port to be built and they have to all fit together. Gindalbie will have to work with perhaps initially using a more limited export amount through Geraldton and then as it ramps up into full production that should coincide with the early start up of Oakajee."
Mr Barnett said that export capacity will be limited until Oakajee is operational.
He said that "We are working with Oakajee Port and Rail as a government to investigate early start up options for Oakajee so that some production could come out of Oakajee ahead of schedule."
The Geraldton Iron Ore Alliance said that the Karara project could become the single biggest employer in the mid west.
Mr Rob Jefferies CEO of Alliance said that yesterday's decision is a significant milestone. It's a massive project and I think what's really exciting is it's the first major project to be moving forward within the region, which gives all the companies a lot more confidence and it must also give the infrastructure providers a lot more confidence that our region's moving ahead."
He said that it also provides greater certainty for the Oakajee port project. We're talking about an operational workforce of about 500 people and a very significant construction workforce, possibly in the order of 1,500 people. It would put it amongst the highest single employer within the mid west region and then decades of life in that project.
