Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) has welcomed a decision from the Federal Court to ban Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) from accessing the global miners key Hamersley line in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Yesterday the Federal Court upheld a ruling from the Australian Competition Tribunal not to declare the Hamersley line open for access and also to set aside the tribunal’s decision to declare the company’s Robe River line open to access.
Rio says it is extremely pleased with the result, noting that the potential disruption would have dwarfed whatever benefits may have existed by allowing third party access.
The company’s CEO Iron Ore, Sam Walsh, says Rio is very pleased that as a result of the decision the damaging effects of the access can be avoided.
Rio is currently gearing up to boost the capacity of its network by 50 per cent over the next four year.
In the 2010 financial year Rio Tinto recorded a net profit of $14.9 billion.
