In 2011, the Western Desert Resources Corporation, together with its partner Sherwin Iron, announced plans that it was planning to run a pipeline from its Roper Bar mining site to carry slurry to the island for treatment there before being offloaded into barges that would ferry the material to ships in deeper water for export to East Asian steel mills. The following year, in 2012 Maria Island was included in the Limmen National Park established that year, though the agreement excised considerable portions of land for mining exploration.
