North West Iron Ore Alliance Information

NWIOA was formed in 2007 by a group of emerging iron ore companies with assets in the Pilbara region and shared interest in promoting the development of a vibrant junior iron ore mining an export facility in this leading iron ore province. Currently the NWIOA has three founding members (Atlas Iron, Brockman Resources and FerrAUS), each of which is aggressively exploring and developing new iron ore projects in the Pilbara region. Collectively these companies have potential to develop long-term iron ore production and export businesses capable of delivering up to 50mtpa of iron ore production by 2015. In 2009, the Western Australian Government and Port Hedland Port Authority (PHPA) granted 50 mtpa port allocation across two berths at South West Creek in the Inner Harbour of Port Hedland to NWIOA. Importantly, the Inner Harbour is now fully allocated and the NWIOA will be the only non-mining operator to offer multi-user bulk commodity berths to service emerging iron ore players in the Pilbara. The two berths give the NWIOA a strategic position in the world’s largest bulk commodity export port. In 2010 PHPA granted a lease of 50 years for the berths and adjacent land on which NWIOA is looking to construct, own, and manage port terminals facilities to service the needs of its customers. The estimated capital cost of the project is A$2.4bn.