API Management Pty received conditional approval from the Australian environment ministry for its proposed Anketell Point port project in the western part of the country.
API Management is a joint venture between coal miner Aquila Resources and mining investment company American Metals and Coal International (AMCI). The firm wants to set up the multiple-user port to export iron ore from its planned West Pilbara project.
The project includes construction of a 15 km shipping channel, jetties and associated shore-based infrastructure including a desalination plant, power plant and road and rail links.
The environment ministry imposed 45 strict conditions for clearing the project. One of the conditions is that the firm must research and monitor the Anketell Point region’s marine environment, and develop measures to monitor, manage or improve it.
The ministry also wants the firm to identify and manage at least 275 hectare of migratory bird roosting and foraging habitat.
The ministry also prescribed a dredge environmental management plan, which will put in place a dredge monitoring program with water quality triggers and appropriate corrective actions.
Earlier, the project faced some hurdles as iron ore prices declined in September. In February, it faces some funding difficulties.
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