A new port is taking shape in the Pilbara

Major pieces of infrastructure critical to project construction have started to arrive through CITIC Pacific Mining's (CPM) port facility.

This will be the first port built in the Pilbara region in about four decades.

A new service wharf is operational which is accepting deliveries of CoreLoc units to be used as protection for the port breakwater. More than 10,500 CoreLocs will arrive from Thailand in almost 30 shiploads between now and July 2010.

Project Director Infrastructure Jim Turner said other port construction activities were progressing well. "Focus is on completion of the module offloading facility (MOF) before year-end to accept delivery of the first two of 12 giant grinding mills early in the New Year. The MOF will also receive modules for the desalination plant, crushers and other oversize items," Mr Turner said.

Construction of the port breakwater, desalination plant and dewatering plant is advancing on schedule alongside bulk earthworks. CPM and MCC have been working well with port contractors including the NRW/VDM Joint Venture, McConnell Dowell, CIMECO and SinoTrans.