The Hope Downs mine is an iron ore mining complex 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 g ...

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 ...

. It comprises four large

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

mines (Hope 1 North, Hope 1 South, Hope 4 and Baby Hope). The mines are co-owned by the Hancock Group and

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

, and the complex was named after Hope Hancock. After the establishment of successful operations at Hope 1 North and South from 2007 onwards, Hope Downs 4 was developed, commencing production in 2013. Hope 4 is about north of Newman, and had a reserve of 162Mt as at 2016. Production at Baby Hope started in 2018. 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, a prominent promoter of his exploration expedition to the n ...

, 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. 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. In 2010, the project leases were estimated to have 1,450 million tonnes of mineable ore and the mines to have an expected life of more than 30 years.

Overview

Rio Tinto iron ore operations in the Pilbara began in 1966.Pilbara
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010 Exploration work through

Hancock Prospecting Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd is a leading Australian owned mining and agricultural business run by Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart and CEO Garry Korte. At stages of its trading, the company has been known as Hancock Prospecting Ltd, Hancock Reso ...

at the Hope Downs 4 deposit began in 1992. Hancock unsuccessfully tried to develop the project with a number of partners, briefly rumored to be planning to join up with the

Fortescue Metals Group Fortescue Metals Group Limited (often referred to as Fortescue Metals Group, FMG, or simply Fortescue) is an Australian iron ore company. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of m ...

in 2005, who was then developing its

Cloud Break mine The Cloudbreak mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 89 kilometres west-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range. The mine is fully owned and operated by the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) and is ...

in the region. The development of the project suffered further delays when attempts to gain access to BHP Billiton's rail network failed, burdening the project with a further A$1 billion in cost to construct rail and port infrastructure. Eventually, in July 2005, Rio Tinto became a partner in the project instead, making thereby the construction of major infrastructure unnecessary, and, after spending A$1.3 billion, the mine moved into production in November 2007. The mine has an annual production capacity of 30 million tonnes of iron ore, sourced from open-pit operations. The ore is processed on site before being loaded onto rail.Hope Downs mine
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010 In the first half of 2009, Rio Tinto upgraded the mine from an annual production of 22 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes.Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistic Digest 2008-09

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 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 The 30 kilometre spur line connecting the mine with Rio Tinto's existing railway system was named "Lang Hancock Railway" in honor of

Lang Hancock Langley Frederick George "Lang" Hancock (10 June 1909 27 March 1992) was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's ...

, founder of Hancock Prospecting and discoverer of the iron ore deposit. 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 787 people, an increase in comparison to 2008, when it only employed 453. Rio Tinto declared its intention to expand the mine, spending a further A$1.78 billion on the Hope Downs 4 project, scheduled to produce 15 million tonnes of iron ore annually by 2013.

In popular culture

In June 2018, Australian

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, also sometimes known as Rolling Blackouts C.F., is an Australian indie rock band, formed in Melbourne in 2013. The band consists of three lead vocalists and guitarists — Fran Keaney, Tom Russo, and Joe White � ...

named their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

''Hope Downs'' after the vast mining complex, explaining that it evoked the notion of "standing at the edge of the void of the big unknown, and finding something to hold on to".

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 East Pilbara