Cape Preston is a rocky

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

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 ...

, situated West South West of Karratha. It lies on the tribal land of the indigenous Nhuwala. Cape Preston is a standard Bureau of Meteorology reference point for coastal weather reports, it is located between

Wallal Wallal is the location of a bore in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The bore is located from the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and Broome and has an elevation of . The nearest town is Marble Bar, south of the bor ...

and

North West Cape North West Cape is a peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge. It is in the Gascoyne region and includes the town of Exmouth. History In 1618, ...

. The area is noted for its rich marine biodiversity and contains a large number of species of

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea ...

s. A number of habitats suitable for sustaining exist around the cape including

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s, sandy beaches,

algal Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

meadows,

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s, rocky reefs and soft sediment communities. In 1889, a pearl lugger was seen sinking off Cape Preston. Its name was variously reported as the ''Waratah'' or ''Paratch'' from

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, belonging to James Clarke. It was witnessed by the crew of the lugger ''Mikado'' and it was later confirmed that all hands were lost. On 23 April 1989, the category four

Tropical Cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

Orson hit the cape, killing four Indonesian fisherman. During the mid-late 1960s, Cape Preston was considered as a possible location for an iron ore outport. A similar plan was ultimately realised in 2012, and iron ore exports commenced in 2013.

Sino Iron Project

Resources company Austeel was granted permission to build 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 ...

operation in the area in 2003 following environmental approval being given by then minister

Judy Edwards Judith Mary Edwards (born 10 April 1955) in Beverley, Western Australia is an Australian politician. She was the ALP member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from May 1990 to September 2008, representing the electorate of Mayland ...

. Construction of the operation was to commence in late 2004. A contract was awarded to develop the mine to a Chinese state-owned company, China Metallurgical Group Corp, in 2007. The project was estimated to cost $1.98 billion, including a

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

mine, a seawater desalination plant, a

thermal power A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary ...

plant and port facilities. Between 2007 and 2011, a seawater desalination plant was built to provide water for the mining project, then known as the Sino Iron Project. Its daily production capacity is 140 megalitres, or 51 gigalitres annually. Waste brine is returned to the sea via a 3 km pipeline. The project started producing magnetite concentrate in late 2012 and the first shipment was exported to China in 2013. , the project is owned by Chinese state-owned Hong Kong-based

CITIC CITIC Group Corporation Ltd., formerly the China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), is a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China, established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping ...

Limited and according to the company represents "one of China's largest investments into the Australian resources sector". On 15 July 2017 the private Cape Preston – Sino Iron Aerodrome

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...

was opened. About a dozen flights land each week. Nominally aimed at

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 ...

travel for company staff, it has drawn criticism from the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

for its possible strategic uses.

References

{{coord, 20, 51, 0, S, 116, 12, 0, E, region:AU-WA_type:landmark, display=title Pilbara Coast Preston

Sino Iron Project

See also

References