Rio Tinto and Fortescue continue to clash over Pilbara rail lines

Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group has filed Federal Court appeals to gain access to the railway lines of larger Australian miner Rio Tinto.
 
On June 30, 2010, the Australian Competition Tribunal handed down determinations that the Hamersley railway line should not be declared available for third party access and that the Robe River railway line should be open to third parties until 2018 rather than until 2028 as originally sought, a Rio Tinto statement said.
 
According to the statement on August 13, the applicant for declarations over these lines, Fortescue Metals Group's subsidiary, TPI, also lodged an application seeking to overturn both these determinations and have both lines declared open until 2028.
 
The Australian Competition Tribunal recently declared Rio's Robe River and BHP's Goldsworthy rail lines open to other users.
 
 "Rio Tinto will vigorously resist these applications," Rio Tinto said in its statement. The company has already applied to the Federal Court to overturn the determination to declare the Robe line open until 2018, Australian press sources noted.