Western Australia’s Oakajee iron ore port and rail project has taken another serious blow after one of the two main developers announced it was struggling to raise the required funding for the site’s construction.

 

Murchison Metals, a 50-50 partner in the venture with Mitsubishi, has announced it has opened negotiations with a number of interested parties, including Chinese financiers, in order to produce the necessary funding.

 

Murchison has admitted it has been struggling to raise the funding for the port, which resource companies consider to be the key to opening deposits in Western Australia that have traditionally been considered economically unviable.   

 

The fund raising problems come as one of the project’s largest customers, Sinosteel, shelved its $2 billion Weld Range iron ore mine after costing blowouts and delays to the project. Murchison blames the inability to reach ‘common ground’ on supply chain agreements and the threat of looming skills shortages as the main sources of the split.

 

Murchison has requested a suspension from trading on the Australian Securities Exchange and expects to make another announcement regarding the project by next week.