On April 1, Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron Limited (Atlas) announced the securing of additional berth capacity at the Utah Point public access port facility in Port Hedland located in the Pilbara region in Western Australia, which is currently under construction.
Atlas has already secured three million mt of annual capacity at the Utah Point facility to underpin the delivery of its product from its 100 percent-owned Pardoo iron ore project. The miner has now been advised by the Port Hedland authorities that it has been allocated an additional three million mt annual capacity for the period from May 2010 through February 2012, increasing its total allocation to six million mt per year.
The agreement is subject to completion of formal documentation and prepayment by Atlas of the future stockyard and load-out charges at a rate of AU$1.79/mt.
Utah Point is expected to be ready for first export of Atlas' Pardoo product by 1 April, 2010, with full commissioning expected later that quarter.
Meanwhile, Atlas is working on converting its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fortescue Metals Group into a binding agreement that will underpin further growth in export capacity. The current MoU contemplates haulage and handling services for an additional three million mt per year of iron ore exports from its tenements.