I notice NRW won a contract for the Roy Hill rail project. Also, Atlas have been linked to using this rail in exchange for port access. Will we see an announcement soon about Atlas inking a deal to use the new rail line?
ATLAS Iron has added Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill joint venture project to the list of Pilbara players it is in talks with to secure a long-term infrastructure solution for its aggressive expansion plans.
Atlas chairman David Flanagan, commenting on reports that he had begun private talks with Mrs Rinehart over a possible port-access-for-rail swap, said while he did not comment on commercial conversations, the company had been in dialogue with Hancock Prospecting for years because of neighbouring tenements.
"We have been working alongside those guys (Hancock) with tenements that have been interacting now for three years and that relationship has gone really well," he said.
"There is a dialogue that is there, we are looking to establish a haulage agreement . . . of course we are talking to them."
Atlas is a key player in a complicated range of negotiations to develop Pilbara infrastructure. Fortescue is battling an application by Brockman for access to its rail and port facilities and may strike a small haulage deal with a junior miner such as Mineral Resources-operated Iron Valley. For its part, Aurizon has signed an exclusive deal with Brockman to potentially develop and operate a independent rail line in the Pilbara. Atlas has held conversations with most of the infrastructure players including Fortescue, Aurizon and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting which hopes to build a port and rail facility for Roy Hill project.
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