An article from Fridays Fin Review.Just o'coupe of pieces from it. Attempts by the govt of Western Aus and the state's economic regulator(ERA) to compel iron ore miners to share crucial infrastructure in the Pilbara are futile, Premier Colin Barnett has indicated. In an extraordinary concession,mr Barnett told AFR that junior miners might be better off selling their iron ore to a major at mine site,rather than try to obtain rail and port accessand export their wares. The regulators haven't been successful, and neither has the state govt, in getting people to share infrastructure.That's the reality. Mining juniors Bck and Flinders are seeking to make use of legislation that provides an avenue for third party access on new railways,including the one operated by fmg. The process is overseen by the state's ERA, which is independent of the state govt. Mr Barnett's comments can be interpreted to imply that the mining juniors are wasting their time. He said that juniors could sell their iron ore at the mine site to those that controlled rail networks, or create alliances that would allow them to build their own rail lines. All the mining giants have claimed that there is not the capacity to allow other miners onto their networks. Fmg ch exec Nev Power says that miners would do better negotiating directly with Fmg,rather than try and use regulators to gain access.
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