trailer world issue One 2008

International Issue One 2008 19 Red Gold Compared to oil, gold or precious gems, high-grade iron ore might seem like a second cousin. After all, the entire world still spends more money looking for and mining gold than any other mineral source. However, the simple fact is that without iron ore, our modern civilization would have never developed. Without iron ore there would be no China boom, no housing boom or for that matter – no global boom at all. Australia is one of the world’s leading pro- ducers of iron ore which is used partly in the domestic iron and steel industry but is large- ly exported to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. This red gold is in fact Australia’s second highest export earner returning $16 billion to the domestic econo- my every year. The world’s economic growth is increasing- ly dependant on the millions of tonnes of iron ore that Australia produces, the most extensive of the high grade deposits are those found at Mount Tom Price, Mount Whaleback, Mount Newman and the Robe River area. Iron ore deposits are widely distributed throughout Australia with extensive deposits being found from as far South as Tasmania to the northern regions in Western Australia and Queensland. The country’s two main Iron Ore min- ing giants are BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. BHP Billiton Iron Ore is one of the world’s leading suppliers of iron ore with approxi- mately 2,000 employees and 6,000 contrac- tors employed in operations which include seven mine sites, port and processing facili- ties, nearly 1,000 kilometres of railway track and a rail ﬂeet comprising over 90 locomo- tives with some 4,000 ore wagons. BHP Bil- liton is currently embarking on several ma- jor growth projects for both their mines and ports facilities, laying the future foundations to increase their iron ore capacity in order to meet the insatiable demands of the global market. Today’s need for iron ore is strongly cor- related to the growth in Chinese steel pro- duction. Since 2002 the Chinese market has well and truly absorbed all related capacity in the global iron ore production system and is expected to continue driving future mar- ket growth. BPH Billiton Iron Ore moves more than 100 million tonnes per annum to steel mills in Asia, Europe and Australia with Western Australia being the country’s largest export earner. The company has seven mining opera- tions in the Pilbara region of Western Aus- tralia which includes the biggest single-pit, open-cut ore mine in the world – the mas- sive Mt. Whaleback mine. Port Hedland and Newman are the major Pilbara towns with iron ore operations. The Ore is mined using the open-cut method. This involves drilling holes into the pit ﬂoor and inserting explosives to break up the solid rock. The ore at Mt. Whaleback is of an exceptionally high grade, containing up to 68 percent iron. After blasting, excavators scoop up the mineral and load it onto haul trucks to be transported to the primary Giant BHP Billiton iron ore dump trucks dri- ve through the red moonscape of the mines. Australia plays its part Endless supply of the red gold Photos:BHPBilliton With exports valued at 16 billion dollars a year, Australia is the largest iron ore exporter in the world.

trailer world issue One 2008

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