BHP Lodges Environmental Application On Iron Ore Expansion
June 03 2009 - 3:19AM
Dow Jones News
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) has submitted documents seeking
environmental approval for the next stage of the expansion of its
iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia,
which will see it dredge Port Hedland Harbor.
On May 29 the miner made a referral to the Department of the
Environment for its Rapid Growth Project 6 and specifically for the
dredging of a 60 hectare area of Port Hedland Harbour.
In the document, the miner said the dredging would allow the
port to accommodate larger vessels in order to meet increasing
demand for iron ore.
BHP said the offshore disposal of dredged material was expected
to start in the fourth quarter of 2009 and take 68 weeks and the
onshore disposal was expected to take 46 weeks and start in the
first quarter of 2010.
RGP6 is designed to boost the capacity of BHP's Pilbara iron ore
mines, rail and port operations to about 240 million metric tons by
2012.
The public has 10 days from the filing of the document to make
comment on the proposed dredging of the harbor and then the
department has another 10 days to rule whether BHP will be required
to provide a detailed environmental impact statement or not.
-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094;
alex.wilson@dowjones.com