Anketell Port, also known as Port Robinson, is a natural harbour in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

(WA). The port is west of

Cape Lambert Cape Lambert is a port facility operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located 40 kilometres north-east of Karratha.

and east of Karratha. According to the WA

Mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

Assessment Project, Port Robinson is the area "south of Dixon Island, east of Cleaverville, west of Bouger Entrance", and north of the "mouth of Rocky Creek plus surrounds".

History

By the 1870s, Port Robinson had become a secondary harbour used by the

pearling industry Cultured pearls are pearls which are formed within a cultured pearl sac with human intervention in the interior of productive living molluscs in a variety of conditions depending upon the mollusc and the goals. Having the same material as natur ...

based at

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

and other coastal shipping. Use of both Cossack and Port Robinson declined after the pearling fleet moved to Broome during the 1880s. Both Port Robinson and the nearby townsite of Cleaverville were named after William Cleaver Robinson, who served three terms as Governor of Western Australia. In 1959, the mariners' guide '' Australia Pilot'' described Port Robinson as "a snug little harbour available for small vessels with local knowledge, of ". Plans for a

deep water port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

in the area, named Anketell Port after the nearby Mount Anketell, have been suspended. The proposed West Pilbara Iron Ore Project (WPIOP) combined a multi-user port with a purpose-built heavy haul railway, to proposed

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

mines nearby. In 2013, Australian Premium Iron Joint Venture (API JV) received primary government approvals – under the ''Environmental Protection Act 1986'' and ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' – for the construction of a deep water port. Technical and commercial feasibility studies regarding WPIOP are being developed by the rail freight company

Aurizon Aurizon Holdings Limited ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National Limited and branded QR National. In 2015, it was the world's largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland G ...

. In 2014, API JV partners

Baosteel China Baowu Steel Group Corp., Ltd., commonly known as Baowu, is a state-owned iron and steel company headquartered in the Baosteel Tower in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The company was formed by Baosteel Group absorbing its smaller state-owned p ...

of China and Aurizon undertook a $1.4 billion takeover of fellow partner Aquila Resources. This, combined with falling prices for iron internationally, led to uncertainty among stakeholders – including Baosteel, Aurizon, South Korean steelmaker

POSCO POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel manufacturer headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the List of steel producers, world's sixth-largest steelmaker by thi ...

and transnational private equity company AMCI – regarding the viability of WPIOP, summarised as:

History

See also

References

Further reading