This morning Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) requested a trading halt of its shares pending an announcement.
In the meantime, the media was flying about with speculation that a Chinese company was considering a stake in the Australian iron ore prospector.
At 2:15 the halt was lifted with the announcement that Fortescue had applied to declare two rail networks in the Pilbara region, operated by Rio Tinto and BHP respectably, open to third parties.
"Under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act, Fortescue Metals Group has today lodged an application with the National Competition Council seeking to declare Rio Tinto's Hamersley Iron Rail Network and the BHP Billiton Goldsworthy Rail Network,'' Fortescue said.
The Hamersley Iron Rail Network passes close to Fortescue's Solomon deposit, where Fortescue has just discovered close to a billion tonnes of iron ore.
"Fortescue is seeking to open the tremendous synergies available in the Pilbara to all Australian mining companies as originally foreshadowed by the iron ore industry's founding fathers," said Fortescue CEO, Andrew Forrest.
"Their intention of an open access Pilbara was for national benefit and it was never their intent that it would become the domain of only two companies now intent on becoming one."
Mr Forrest said a lack of competition already exists in the Pilbara in the provision of infrastructure services, rail haulage and the supply of iron ore.
Fortescue maintained that the proposed Rio Tinto and BHP merger will only exacerbate these issues in the Pilbara to the detriment of Western Australia, and even the country at large.
"If and when BHP Billiton makes a formal offer for Rio and proceeds to seek merger clearance from the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), we will ensure that the potential anticompetitive effects of this merger are clearly understood by the ACCC and rigorously and fully assessed over time."
Indeed, Mr Forrest has already written to the ACCC to notify it under the Trade Practices Act of the anticompetitive effects of the proposed merger.
"The Trade Practices Act was designed specifically for this situation – to legislate for strategic services to be available for third party use, where it is in the public interest."
Fortescue is currently vying to become the third iron ore miner in the iron ore-rich Pilbara behind Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, so the public interest served by the above legislation would largely be its own.
BHP's $140 billion proposal to take over Rio has sparked conjecture that the two global miners' biggest customers in China may seek to defend their interests by upping their support for other miners' projects.
However, it seems that Fortescue is not one of these ‘other' miners, with the company quashing rumours this afternoon that it is entering into an equity investment agreement with a Chinese steel mill.
Also in the news today was the revelation that following Fortescue's mammoth iron ore discovery yesterday, Mr Forrest has rocketed up in rankings over night to become Australia's third richest man.
Forrest is reportedly now worth $6.2 billion after shares in Fortescue shot up 18.8% yesterday on the discovery.
Because Mr Forrest holds 36% of Fortescue Metal shares, yesterday's price rise equated to a serious increase in net worth for the CEO.
The only two ahead of him now are Jamie Packer, on $7.25 billion, and shopping centre magnate Frank Lowy on $6.51 billion.
And considering the iron ore prospector has not even begun to drill its various mining tenements yet, Forrest may yet rise to number one in the ranks.
Yesterday's big share price jump saw Fortescue reach an all-time high of $61.20, however the stock pulled back slightly today, falling by 4.4% to close down at $58.50.
