The starter's gun is poised to fire on Western Australia's Utah Point Bulk Handling Facility auction, with the government to call for formal expressions of interest by the end of the month. 
Street Talk understands sale adviser Rothschild/Deloitte has been on the phones to prospective buyers this week, drumming up interest in the iron ore terminal and doing its best to ease buyer concerns with iron ore at sub-$US45 a tonne.
The pitch is all about tonnes through Port Hedland which, despite the iron ore price's fall, show no sign of slowing anytime soon.
While Utah Point's role is to be there for the junior miners - and the sale terms are expected to reflect that - excess capacity can always be taken up by the likes of BHP Billiton. And the big miners' production is only going up.
The government is expected to target potential buyers in Australia and Asia, testing all potential pockets of interest including infrastructure funds, trading houses and existing port operators. The dream deal would be finding a Landbridge Group-style bidder as Northern Territory managed to do at the Port of Darwin.
Legislation to approve Utah Point's long-term lease was tabled in Western Australia parliament last year and is expected to be approved once politicians are back debating the big issues from   February 16. The sale already has cabinet's support and the government - with the help of the Nationals - has a majority in the lower and upper houses.
The challenge for the state - and its advisers - will be finding a buyer willing to meet its reserve price. While it's easy enough to start a sale, the hard part will be closing the deal.
The terminal is one of four berths at Port Hedland owned by the Pilbara Ports Authority.
Utah Point's expressions of interest are expected to be followed by the much larger - and more attractive to the usual pool of global port investors - Fremantle Port.
It's understood the WA government will consider the Fremantle scoping study and recommendations in coming days, before introducing legislation into Parliament in the coming weeks.
Interestingly, bidders are expecting to be asked to seek Department of Defence and Foreign Investment Review Board approval for Fremantle, given Defence interests in the area.
Utah Point looms as an important test of WA's ability to run sale processes and sell assets.
NSW has set the benchmark for well-organised and credible auctions in the past four years, which has seen it gain the trust of some of the world's largest investors. That trust has had a big impact on the state's bottom line.