Rio Tinto to resist action by Fortescue over rail access BARRY FITZGERALD August 14, 2010
RIO Tinto is to ''vigorously resist'' a Federal Court action by Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals to have recent Pilbara rail access decisions by the Australian Competition Tribunal overturned.
In the June decisions, the ACT said that Rio's Hamersley railway line should not be ''declared'' available for third party access under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act, and that its Robe River railway line should be declared until 2018, rather than until 2028 as originally sought by Fortescue.
The court action started yesterday by Fortescue seeks to overturn both of the ACT rulings and have both the rail lines declared open to third party access until 2028.
Rio Tinto, in turn, has applied to the Federal Court to overturn the determination to declare the Robe line until 2018.
In the June decisions by the ACT, Rio and the other Pilbara heavyweight, BHP Billiton, won the right to lock out other miners, including Fortescue, from their two main rail lines: Mount Newman (BHP) and Hamersley (Rio).
Mr Forrest has made third-party access to Rio and BHP's rail lines something of a cause celebre. Fortescue did have a small victory in the June ruling by the ACT in that BHP's Goldsworthy rail line was declared open to third party access, as was the Robe line, albeit only until 2018.
The ACT found that the costs in allowing smaller miners to use the Mount Newman and Hamersley lines ''were so great that access would be contrary to the public interest''.
But the tribunal said that because BHP's Goldsworthy line and Rio's Robe River line dealt with less iron ore than the other rail lines, there would not be as much disruption to their operations if these were opened to other players.
The National Competition Council had previously recommended that the Goldsworthy, Hamersley and Robe River lines be declared open, but it did not make any recommendation on the Mount Newman line. The three-member Australian Competition Tribunal was asked to consider appeals by BHP and Rio on the three declarations while Fortescue Metals pressed ahead with its attempt to gain access to Mount Newman.
BHP was disappointed by the Goldsworthy line ruling. It said at the time that it was entitled to appeal the decision via the full bench of the Federal Court. It nevertheless invited ''access seekers'' to negotiate with the company for access to the Goldsworthy line.
