The Middleback Range is a mountain range on the eastern side of

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The Middleback Range has been a source of

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 ...

for over a century, particularly to feed the Whyalla Steelworks. Mines in the region were first developed by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

from the 1890s and are now owned and operated by Liberty House Group.

Geography

The Middleback Range extends from

Iron Knob Iron Knob is a town in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. At the 2006 census, Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of 199. The town obtained its name from its prox ...

at the northern end near the Eyre Highway to the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

, halfway between

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...

and Cowell at its southern extent. The

Ironstone Hill Conservation Park Ironstone Hill Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula in the gazetted locality of Middleback Range about east south-east of the town of Kimba on the west side of the Midd ...

is immediately west of the southern part of the ranges.

Geology

The Middleback Range is part of the Cleve Subdomain of the Gawler Craton. The iron ore deposits are primarily of Early

Proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

metasediments of the Hutchison Group.

Mining

All of the mines in the Middleback Range are operated as

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, producing

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 ...

and

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

ores. Magnetite is processed at Whyalla, and hematite is exported. The mines are serviced by the

BHP Whyalla Tramway The BHP Whyalla Tramway is a gauge heavy-haul railway on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It runs from haematite mines at Iron Monarch, Iron Baron and Iron Duke in the Middleback Range, about west of Whyalla, to company steelworks a ...

, a railway which convey the ore to

's port and steelworks. , the operating mines of the Middleback Range are: Iron Duchess, Iron Knight, Iron Duke, Iron Magnet, Iron Baron and Iron Chieftain. Iron ore mines in the Middleback Range include: * Iron Knob * Iron Monarch * Iron Prince * Iron Princess * Iron Baron * Iron Queen * Iron Cavalier * Iron Chieftain * Iron Duke * Iron Duchess * Iron Magnet

References

{{reflist Mountain ranges of South Australia Geology of South Australia Eyre Peninsula Far North (South Australia) Mining in South Australia

Geography

Geology

Mining

See also

References