Australia: The Premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett has lifted a cap on exports from the Port of Geraldton, in a move which he denies was in response to lobbying from the industry.
The cap imposed was an export limit of twelve million tonnes of iron ore per year as part of an agreement with the developer of a major deepwater port at Oakajee, which is not scheduled to begin operation until 2014.
"The state government is taking a flexible approach so that both iron ore projects can get started," the Australian Financial Review quoted Mr Barnett as saying.
In June this year, the Geraldton Port Authority told parliament that at least one company would be ready to start iron ore shipments from the state-owned port in the next two years, and would not be given access due to the cap.
The company presumed to be at risk was either Asia Iron Holdings or Gindalbie Metals.
Asia Iron is developing a US$1.86 million Extension Hill project while Gindalbie is soon to begin construction of its flagship Karara iron ore project, worth an estimated US$1.68 billion.
The miners are reported to have plans to export a combined 20 million tonnes of iron ore a year from Geraldton Port before Oakajee starts operations.
