

The magnetite concentrate is exported to China from a purpose-built port at Cape Preston. From the stockyard, the product is transported to the barge loading berth at the breakwater through the 4.4km conveyor belt.
Port Preston is the Pilbara’s first greenfield port to be built in more than 40 years in. Unlike traditional iron ore ports which require deepwater channels to accommodate the massive tidal movements of the region, we currently use a transhipment method. A first in Western Australia, transhipment sees the product first loaded onto barges or a Transhipment Shuttle Self-unloading Vessel (TSV) at the loading berth along the breakwater. The barges are then towed offshore where a transhipper loads product onto larger ocean-going vessels (OGVs). The TSV is a self-propelled built-for-purpose vessel which uses a gravity reclaiming system and a single point loading system to load the OGVs.