The AFR is reporting that some US firms are attempting derail the US trade financing body’s support for Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill:
Caterpillar told the Financial Times that it supported a loan – expected to come from the official export agency of the US, the Export-Import Bank – to Hancock Prospecting’s $10 billion Roy Hill mining project in Western Australia because it would boost orders for trucks and bulldozers.
Roy Hill, which is 70 per cent owned by Gina Rinehart-controlled Hancock Prospecting, is seeking to raise $7 billion in debt following talks with global commercial banks and export credit agencies.
…But objectors argue the financing promotes competition against US companies and that the 55 million tonnes of annual production Roy Hill will generate will contribute to a global over supply in iron ore that will decreased prices for the commodity.
Senators in affected iron ore mining states are also objecting to the loan. It is my understanding that General Electric is also a beneficiary of the project via rail haulage engines so more support may emerge there.
To me it is obvious that the need to use these funding sources at all indicates that the project is of questionable value.
