Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced that it will invest $301 million to replace two shiploaders at its Nelson Point port operations in Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This investment will also help increasing the capacity of the Western Australia Iron Ore supply chain towards 270 million mt per year, at a low capital cost.
Each shiploader has a loading capacity of 12,500 mt per hour, while the existing shiploaders currently load iron ore at a rate of approximately 10,000 mt per hour.
Commissioning of the two replacement shiploaders is scheduled for the second half of 2014.