The proposal is to expand the capacity of the existing Dampier salt field from 2.5 million tonnes per annum to 4 million tonnes per annum. Expansion is planned in four stages, depending on market demand, commencing in 1990 through to about 1997.

Expansion would occur within the existing salt field lease boundary which has been operating at Dampier since the late 1960s.

The proposed expansion is based on recovering waste salt from the disused bitterns holding pond then utilising this previously disturbed area for future production.

The expansion would allow the introduction of new technology to extract additional sodium chloride normally lost as waste, thereby increasing the productivity of both the land area presently used and the disused bitterns holding pond.