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Anketell Port, also known as Port Robinson, is a natural harbour in the
Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
region of
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
(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 of Karratha.
and east of Karratha. According to the WA
Mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
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 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. Just as the same as natural pearls, cultured pearls ...
based at
Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
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 Ham ...
in the area, named Anketell Port after the nearby
Mount Anketell Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
, have been suspended. Nick Evans, 2016, "Anketell port bid scuppered", ''The West Australian'' (16 April).
(Access: 1 August 2016.)
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 fo ...
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 ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated o ...
. 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 pe ...
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-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, i ...
and transnational private equity company AMCI – regarding the viability of WPIOP. According to Nick Evans of ''
The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'': "the project’s engineering teams were told to focus on ways to restructure the project to cut its estimated $4.5 billion capital cost". According to Evans: "Dreams of a major new Pilbara port at Anketell are all but over for the near future".


See also

*
Pilbara Railways The Railways in the Pilbara are a collection of railways in the Pilbara region of north-west Western Australia. History In 1887, the Cossack Tram opened followed by the Western Australian Government Railways's (WAGR) Marble Bar Railway in ...


References


Further reading

*{{cite book, author1=Ross Anderson, author2=Jeremy Green, title=Anketell Port Development - Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) desktop analysis, year=2011, publisher=Department of Maritime Archaeology,
Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...
, url=https://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/sites/default/files/no._281_anketell_gap_analysis.pdf, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712033231/https://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/sites/default/files/no._281_anketell_gap_analysis.pdf, archive-date= 12 July 2022, url-status=live Ports and harbours of Western Australia Pilbara Coast Proposed rail infrastructure in Australia