Ian Williams appointed Oakajee project director
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Port Hedland Port Authority chair and former Century Zinc Ltd managing director Ian Williams will head a project team working on the development of Oakajee deepwater port, Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan announced today.
The full text of a ministerial announcement is pasted below
A project director has been appointed to oversee the development of Oakajee deepwater port, 20km north of Geraldton, to service the booming Mid-West iron ore industry.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan announced that Ian Williams would head a project team to facilitate the development of Oakajee as an outer harbour of the Geraldton port.
"Ian is a highly experienced resource sector executive and engineer, with a track record of national and international achievements in the mining sector and extensive port and logistics experience," Ms MacTiernan said.
"The development of Oakajee port will see the Mid-West region continue its rapid growth and will cater for the future export of high volumes of iron ore.
"Ian has diverse experience in the development of mining infrastructure and his leadership will see growth of the Oakajee port, industrial estate and associate rail infrastructure."
The Minister said Mr Williams was currently chair of the Port Hedland Port Authority and adjunct professor of the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute.
His previous roles included executive management of open cut and underground mining operations and consultancies on resource infrastructure development.
As managing director of Century Zinc Limited, Mr Williams oversaw establishment of the world's largest zinc mine, a huge $1.43billion project located in remote north-western Queensland.
He was also an independent trustee of Aboriginal trusts based in Kununurra and Port Hedland and provided advice to resource companies on social, as well as technical, issues.
"Ian has a proven record in negotiations on very large projects, and his work with Aboriginal people contributed to the first major agreement under the recently proclaimed Federal Native Title Act," Ms MacTiernan said.