Australian miner Fortescue Metals Group has announced that a decision by the High Court of Australia allows the company to apply for a further review of its Pilbara rail case at the Australian Competition Tribunal (ACT).
The High Court upheld Fortescue's appeal against the decision that Fortescue and other third parties could not gain access to the Pilbara rail lines, Hamersley and Robe, operated by the global mining giant Rio Tinto.
Fortescue CEO Nev Power said third party rail access would help smaller miners develop deposits without duplicating expensive and unnecessary rail infrastructure to generate export revenue for Australia. However, Rio Tinto insists that its integrated operations in the Pilbara region would be severely impacted if third parties were permitted to run trains on its system.