The Brockman 2 mine is an

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

mine located in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, 60 kilometres north-west of Tom Price. It should not be confused with Rio Tinto's

Brockman 4 mine The Brockman 4 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north-west of Tom Price. The mine, located near the existing Brockman mine, was opened in 2010.Expansion Projects
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 7 November 2010 The mine is fully owned and operated by

Rio Tinto Iron Ore Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

and is one of twelve iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara.Pilbara
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010Mining
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010 In 2009, the combined Pilbara operations produced 202 million tonnes of iron ore, a 15 percent increase from 2008. The Pilbara operations accounted for almost 13 percent of the world's 2009 iron ore production of 1.59 billion tonnes. The

Hamersley Range The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory after Edward Hamersley (senior), Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his explo ...

, where the mine is located, contains 80 percent of all identified iron ore reserves in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and is one of the world's major iron ore provinces. The mine is serviced by the

Brockman Airport Brockman Airport is a former airport located in the Pilbara region at Brockman 2 mine, Western Australia See also * List of airports in Western Australia This is a list of airports in the Australian state of Western Australia. __TOC__ ...

Overview

Rio Tinto iron ore operations in the Pilbara began in 1966. The mine itself began operations in 1992. The mine has an annual production capacity of 8.7 million tonnes of iron ore, sourced from open-pit operations. The ore is processed on site before being loaded onto rail.Brockman mine
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010 Ore from the mine is then transported to the coast through the

Hamersley & Robe River railway The Hamersley & Robe River railway, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, and operated by its subsidiary Pilbara Iron, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for the purpose of carrying iron ore. The network is larger than ...

, where it is loaded onto ships.Rail
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010 Ore from Brockman, like that from Mount Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Channar,

Eastern Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The range ha ...

, Marandoo and Yandicoogina, is 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 re-screened. The maximum size for the lumps is 31.5 mm, while the fines are at a maximum of 6.3 mm. The mine's workforce is on a

fly-in fly-out Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas by flying them temporarily to the work site instead of relocating employees and their families permanently. It is often abbreviated to FIFO when referring to employment status. This is ...

roster. In 2009, the mine employed 539 people, an increase in comparison to 2008, when it only employed 445.Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistic Digest 2009

Department of Mines and Petroleum The Department of Mines and Petroleum was a department of the Government of Western Australia until it was superseded by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety on 1 July 2017.

website, accessed: 8 November 2010 The mine is located near the

Nammuldi mine The Nammuldi mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 60 kilometres north-west of Tom Price. The mine is fully owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of seventeen iron ore mines the company opera ...

, also operated by Rio Tinto. Like the

Channar mine The Channar mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 17 kilometres south-east of Paraburdoo. The mine is partly owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of fifteen iron ore mines the company operat ...

, Brockman 2 was closed for a time in late 2008 during the

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

, with the operation mothballed. The temporary closure, which halted its then monthly production of 1.6 million tonnes, came alongside selected production reductions at Rio Tinto's other Pilbara operations. The mine is owned by Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, which owns six mines in the Pilbara, including Brockman, as well as partly owning two others in the region. On 16 August 2011, an employee was killed at the mine, being crushed by a hydraulic cylinder of a front-end loader, causing operations to be stopped for a number of days. It was the second fatality in less than three month in Rio Tinto's Pilbara operations, after having been fatality-free since August 2003.Rio Tinto halts mine work after Pilbara death
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', published: 17 August 2011, accessed: 25 August 2011

Brockman 4

Rio Tinto's new Brockman 4 project is located close to the current Brockman 2 mine. It is a separate mine to the current one and opened in 2010. The mine, at a cost of US$1.520 billion, is initially scheduled to produce 22 million tonnes annually, with a later doubling of capacity to achieve Rio Tinto's plan of raising iron ore production from the Pilbara from 220 million tonnes annually to 330 million.

References

External links

Rio Tinto Iron Ore website

MINEDEX website
Database of the

{{Iron ore railways in the Pilbara Iron ore mines in Western Australia Surface mines in Australia Rio Tinto Iron Ore Hamersley Range Shire of Ashburton 1992 establishments in Australia