THE Mid-West Ports Authority is playing the long game, increasing throughput by maximising its existing infrastructure, ensuring that when mining projects in the region come online, the Port of Geraldton will ready and waiting to be that vital link in the mining supply chain.

Mid-West Ports Authority chief executive officer Rochelle Macdonald said there was a huge amount of opportunity that the port can realise in the next 10-15 years.

“In the past 10 years we’ve actually seen a doubling of the trade going through the port of Geraldton so it’s not unrealistic to see the trade increasing quite significantly going forward,” Ms Macdonald said.

“We’ve got iron ore, base metal concentrate, mineral sands, and some new products, rare earths lithium and potash coming to the port. Then we’ve also seen a steady increase on grain exports that will also have an impact on our development future.

“Depending on what the market does the maximisation footprint plan might take 30 years but it might only take 10 years.”

The port has existing berth facilities able to accommodate between 50,000t to 12mt per annum but they are only being utilised at around 50pc; so the first stage in the plan is maximising current infrastructure – then the post will reassess its capabilities.

Ms Macdonald said any new infrastructure development would occur after the current footprint had been maximised and that it would align with new mining projects in the region.

“There’s almost 20 new projects in various stages of development that we could see being commissioned within the next five years, however we do understand that mine development is slow,” she said.

Some of these projects will take quite a long time to come to fruition.

“It’s really about aligning what we do to meet the demands of the market and the demands of the customers,” Ms Macdonald said.

MPA business development manager Ian Hind said the market could change drastically in a short amount of time.

“In the mining space the commodity prices and exchange rates have moved in the last 12 months to a much more favourable climate,” Mr Hind said.

“The landscape has changed very quickly. Projects that two or three years ago were kind of on the backburner are all getting reviewed and reactivated again.”

And the Port of Geraldton plans to be ready to cater for any projects coming online.

“We are working hand in hand with mining operators. It’s a marriage,” Mr Hind said.

“We understand what their needs are, they understand what our limitations are and we work together to achieve a good outcome.”

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