Australian iron ore company Strike Resources has formed a consortium, dubbed Port of Ashburton Consortium (PAC), to develop an iron ore export facility at the existing Port of Ashburton.
Strike, through its subsidiary Paulsens East Iron Ore, has executed a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CZR Resources and CSL Australia (CSL).
Under the terms of the MOU, the consortium partners will jointly develop a 5Mtpa iron ore export facility at the existing Port of Ashburton, Pilbara region, Western Australia.
The companies will work together to secure approvals required for the construction and operation of the Port of Ashburton West Quay Facility.
The proposed bulk export facility will include landside facilities such as a road train unloader, conveying, storage shed, transhipment vessel (TSV) loader and ancillary fixed point.
It will also feature mobile infrastructure to facilitate the export of iron ore at the existing Port of Ashburton, a multi-user port operated by the Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA).
CSL Australia will study the feasibility of landside and offshore transhipment operations and holds a first right of refusal to provide transhipment services.
The consortium is looking for a TSV solution that is capable of discharging iron ore into larger cape-size vessels, to reduce shipping costs, said Strike.
The consortium partners have agreed to share the costs and expenses of the approvals according to their participating interest in the consortium.
CZR will own 50% participation interest, while CSL will own 25% and Strike the remaining 25% in the PAC.
In addition, CZR can access 66.67% and Strike 33.33% of the export capacity at the Port of Ashburton West Quay Facility.
CSL Australia is a division of the CSL Group, which currently provides transhipment services for the export of iron ore from Cape Preston in Western Australia and Whyalla in South Australia.
CZR is a Western Australia-focused mineral exploration and development company with five projects, all in a joint venture with its partner Creasy Group.
Strike Resources is currently developing the Paulsens East Iron Ore Mine in Western Australia and has exported 66,618 tonnes of Fe Lump DSO from Utah Point.
