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Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd operates in the Pilbara region through open-cast mines at Mount Tom Price and Paraburdoo. These mines and associated crushing capacity presently have an annual capacity of 46 million t of ore and the mines are linked to the coast by a 386km long railway line which connects Paraburdoo through Mt Tom Price to the Port of Dampier. From the start of operations in July 1966 through to 1980 over 300 million t of ore and pellets have been shipped, predominantly to Japan although deliveries have also been made to Europe, the USA, and the Asian region. Hamersley Iron itself is a 100% owned subsidiary of Hamersley Holdings Ltd, a publicly quoted company whose principal shareholders are Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd (82.3%), the Australian public (11.5%) and a number of Japanese steel and trading companies (6.2%).
The Hamersley Iron Province in the North-West Division of Western Australia consists of a group of Lower Proterozoic sediments which occur in a sedimentary basis covering an area of 78,000km2. This group termed the Hamersley Group is characterised by three thick banded iron formations which originally extended over the basin and which have been enriched to give large deposits of high grade hematite. The three formations are, in order of decreasing age, the Marra Mamba Iron Formation (180m thick), the Brockman Iron Formation (670m thick) and the Boolgeeda Iron Formation (210m thick), separated by beds of shale, dolomite and acid volcanic rocks. The major ore bodies which form the basis of the current operations at Mt Tom Price and Paraburdoo are in the Brockman Iron Formation and the reserves are sufficient even at the current level of production to support operations through into the next century.
The ore bodies are generally of 15-60m thick but exceptional areas 150m and more thick are found and, for the mostpart, the hematite ore averages in excess of 60% Fe, 2-4% Si, 1 -3% Al203 and 0.05-0. 1 2% P. Some deposits are better than this however. The total ore resources are put as follows:
At MtTom Price, the ore body is located at the centre of the Hamersley Province some 288 rail km from Dampier. It is 7.5km long, up to 1 .2km wide with a maximum depth...