Mount_Tom_Price_mine

Mount Tom Price mine

Mount Tom Price mine

Iron ore mine in Western Australia

The Mount Tom Price mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, near the town of Tom Price.[1]

Quick Facts Location, State ...

The mine is fully owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of twelve iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara.[2][3] In 2009, the combined Pilbara operations produced 202 million tonnes of iron ore, a 15 percent increase from 2008.[4] The Pilbara operations accounted for almost 13 percent of the world's 2009 iron ore production of 1.59 billion tonnes.[5][6]

The Hamersley Range, where the mine is located, contains 80 percent of all identified iron ore reserves in Australia and is one of the world's major iron ore provinces.[7]

Overview

Iron ore mines in the Pilbara region

Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in the Pilbara began in 1966,[2] with the Mount Tom Price mine opening that year. Mount Tom Price was the company's first mine to open in the Pilbara.[8] The mine has an annual production capacity of 28 million tonnes of iron ore, sourced from open-pit operations. The ore is processed on site before being loaded onto rail.[9] Ore from Mount Tom Price, like Brockman, Paraburdoo, Channar, Eastern Range, Marandoo and Yandicoogina are transported as lump and fines ore product from the mines to Dampier via rail. Before being loaded onto ships for export, the product is blended and rescreened. The maximum size for the lumps is 31.5 mm, while the fines are at a maximum of 6.3 mm.[10]

Ore from the mine is then transported to the coast through the Hamersley & Robe River railway, where it is loaded onto ships.[11]

The mine's workforce is residential and lives in Tom Price.[9] In 2009, the mine employed 1,515 people, a decrease in comparison to 2008, when it employed 1,701.[12]

The mine is owned by Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, which owns six mines in the Pilbara, including Mount Tom Price, and partly owns two more mines in the region.[12] The company is building a 45MW/12MWh battery as a virtual synchronous machine to control the mine's electricity grid.[13]

References

  1. [1]
    MINEDEX website: Mount Tom Price search result Archived 2008-09-11 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 6 November 2010
  2. [2]
    Pilbara Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010
  3. [3]
    Mining Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010
  4. [4]
    Preparing for the future Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine Rio Tinto presentation, published: 23 March 2010, accessed: 7 November 2010
  5. [5]
    Global iron-ore production falls 6,2% in 2009 - Unctad report miningweekly.com, published: 30 July 2010, accessed: 7 November 2010
  6. [6]
    Production of iron ore fell in 2009, but shipments continued to increase, report says[permanent dead link] UNCTAD website, published: 30 July 2010, accessed: 7 November 2010
  7. [7]
    Iron fact sheet - Australian Resources and Deposits Archived 2017-02-18 at the Wayback Machine Geoscience Australia website, accessed: 2 Apr 2017
  8. [8]
    The Australian Mines Handbook - 2003-04 edition, editor: Ross Louthean, publisher: Louthean Media Pty Ltd, page: 242
  9. [9]
    Mount Tom Price mine Archived 2010-09-06 at the Wayback Machine Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010
  10. [10]
    Iron fact sheet - Mining Archived 2011-02-18 at the Wayback Machine Geoscience Australia website, accessed: 7 November 2010
  11. [11]
    Rail Archived 2013-07-01 at the Wayback Machine Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010
  12. [12]
    Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistic Digest 2009 Department of Mines and Petroleum website, accessed: 8 November 2010
  13. [13]
    Parkinson, Giles (1 July 2021). "Rio Tinto battery to be biggest of its type in world, and shine path to 100 pct renewables". RenewEconomy. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. The battery will be able to control the grid and hold it steady by itself
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