The Channar 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 ...

, 17 kilometres south-east of Paraburdoo. The mine is partly 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 fifteen 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.

Overview

Rio Tinto iron ore operations in the Pilbara began in 1966. The mine itself began open-pit operations in January 1990. The combined production capacity of the Paraburdoo,

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 ...

and Channar mines is 20 million tonnes of iron ore. The ore is processed both at Channar and at Paraburdoo before being loaded onto rail, being transported from Channar to Paraburdoo by conveyor belt.Channar 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 Channar, like that from Brockman, Mount Tom Price, Paraburdoo,

, 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 rescreened. The maximum size for the lumps is 31.5 mm, while the fines are at a maximum of 6.3 mm. The mines has a residential workforce in Paraburdoo. In 2009, the combined operations of Paraburdoo, Channar and Eastern Range employed 1,081 people, a decrease in comparison to 2008, when it employed 1,324.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: 7 November 2010 The mine was closed for a time in late 2008, after joint venture partner Sinosteel failed to honor the benchmark contract price for ore from the Channar mine 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 ...

. According to

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

, at the time, ore from Channar was costing the company 11% more than the equivalent product from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The mine, which reached its full design capacity of 10 million tonnes per year by 1998, is scheduled to provide 200 million tonnes of iron ore to the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

steel industry throughout its life. The Channar mine was the first mineral resources project a Chinese company got involved in outside of China, and was the biggest overall overseas investment at the time. In 2010, Rio Tinto and Sinosteel announced plans to expand production by a further 50Mt/year. The mine is jointly owned by Rio Tinto, which holds 60 percent, and Chinese company

Sinosteel Corporation Sinosteel Corporation (S: 中国中钢集团公司, T: 中國中鋼集團公司, P: ''Zhōngguó Zhōnggāng Jítuán Gōngsī'') is a state-owned enterprise, primarily in mining, trading, equipment manufacturing and engineering. Founded in 1993 ...

, which owns the remaining 40 percent.China in box seat on a BHP, Rio deal
''

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: 9 November 2007, accessed: 7 November 2010 Rio Tinto's share of the mine is owned through Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary, which owns six mines in the Pilbara, and partly owns two more in the region, including Channar.

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 1990 establishments in Australia