Brockman 4 mine

Brockman 4 mine

The plant at the mine.
Location
Brockman 4 mine
Location in Australia
Location Pilbara
State Western Australia
Country Australia
Coordinates 22°34′31″S 117°16′07″E / 22.575371°S 117.268501°E / -22.575371; 117.268501Coordinates: 22°34′31″S 117°16′07″E / 22.575371°S 117.268501°E / -22.575371; 117.268501
Production
Products Iron ore
Production 22 million tonnes/annum
History
Opened 2010
Owner
Company Rio Tinto Iron Ore
Website Rio Tinto Iron Ore website

The Brockman 4 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 60 kilometres north-west of Tom Price.[1] The mine, located near the existing Brockman mine, was opened in 2010.[2]

The mine is fully owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and will be one of thirteen iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara.[3][4]

The Hamersley Range, where the mine is located, is, with 80% of all identified iron ore reserves in Australia, one of the major iron ore provinces in the world.[5]

The mine is serviced by the Boolgeeda Airport.

Overview

Iron ore mines in the Pilbara region.

Brockman 4 is located approximately 25 km south of the Brockman 2 mine. The mine, which cost US$1.520 billion to build, is initially scheduled to produce 22 million tonnes annually,[2] with a doubling of capacity planned by 2012. This is to help achieve Rio Tinto's goal of raising iron ore production from the Pilbara from 220 million tonnes annually (as of 2010) to 330 million.[6]

The ore body is approximately 15 km long and up to 3 km wide, comprising the hills to the south of the Boolgeeda Creek Valley. Mining incorporates a fleet of fifteen Komatsu 830E haul trucks. The ore is processed on site in the plant to produce lump (<31.5mm, >6mm) and fines (<6mm) product. There is a primary Jaw Crusher, two secondary cone crushers, a six bin screening building and a 1.2 Million tonne capacity stockyard. Stockpiled ore is loaded onto rail and then transported to the coast through the Hamersley & Robe River railway, where it is loaded onto ships.[7]

The mines workforce is on a Fly-in fly-out roster.

Brockman 4 has an estimated mine life of 20 years.[8] It was officially opened on 2 September 2010.[9] Rio Tinto allocated a further A$1.24 billion in early December 2010, to expand the mine as well as develop its Western Turner Syncline project, with the aim of increasing the Pilbara production to 283 million tonnes per annum by late 2013. The expansion would make B4 Rio Tinto's second-largest mine in the Pilbara.[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brockman 4 mine.

References

  1. ↑ MINEDEX website: Brockman 4 search result Archived September 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. accessed: 8 November 2010
  2. 1 2 Expansion Projects Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 8 November 2010
  3. ↑ Pilbara Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010
  4. ↑ Mining Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 8 November 2010
  5. ↑ Iron fact sheet - Australian Resources and Deposits Geoscience Australia website, accessed: 7 November 2010
  6. ↑ Rio to double capacity at $US1.5bn Brockman mine, says Walsh The Australian, published: 2 September 2010, accessed: 7 November 2010
  7. ↑ Rail Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 8 November 2010
  8. ↑ Brockman 4 theresourcechannel.com.au, published: 5 March 2010, accessed: 8 November 2010
  9. ↑ Rio Tinto opens Brockman 4 The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 2 September 2010, accessed: 8 November 2010
  10. ↑ Rio Tinto signals $1.24bn ore expansion The Australian, published: 2 December 2010, accessed: 4 December 2010

External links

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