The Mid-West Development Commission said that the establishment of a port at Oakajee is "urgent" and would help ensure the region's miners reach their full capacity.
Padbury Mining said that it has reached a USD 6.4 billion deal with unnamed private Australian investors to develop the port and rail project.
Mid-west miners are currently exporting through Geraldton Port.
Mr Gavin Treasure CEO of the commission's said that Geraldton may reach full export capacity in the next 12 to 18 months.
Mr Treasure said that "Given the Port of Geraldton is not far away from reaching capacity, then it's very important that the Oakajee project is given the green light and commenced by someone to enable the capacity constraints to be addressed."
He said that although Oakajee will be a challenging project, it can be done.
He added that "We identify that the market is much tighter than it once was in terms of iron ore price and the hurdle rates required but nevertheless, it still doesn't make it impossible and we congratulate Padbury and others who have been pushing very hard to make the Oakajee dream a reality."
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