The Leichhardt Industrials-owned project is about 55km from Karratha in WA's Pilbara.

As part of its proposal Leichhardt wants to develop a 3.4 million tonnes per annum high-grade chemical salt operation for export to Asia-Pacific chemical makers.

The company plans to develop a series of concentrator and crystalliser ponds and a processing plant, with supporting infrastructure to include seawater intake, bitterns outfall, desalination plant and groundwater bores.

To export its product Leichhardt will use a trestle jetty at nearby Cape Preston East Port, which will require a level of dredging.

Development of the project will disturb 14,710 hectares of land and sea within a 25,555ha envelope.

In a statement Environmental Protection Authority chairman Professor Matthew Tonts said the project could significantly impact the surrounding environment and detailed assessment was required to determine how the environmental issues can be managed.

This will be done through a public environmental review, with an environmental scoping document prepared by Leichhardt to be available for 8 weeks.

The EPA found the solar salt project could impact local fauna and flora and inland waters, which could be altered with a mix of surface water and groundwater.

Traditional Owner access to the area could also be disturbed, according to the EPA, and Aboriginal sites and heritage places damaged.