The Mount Whaleback mine, officially the Newman West operation, 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 ...

, six kilometres west of Newman. The mine is majority-owned (85 percent) and operated 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 ...

, and is one of five iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara. The company also operates two port facilities at

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

, Nelson Point and Finucane Island, and over 1,000 kilometres of rail in the Pilbara. BHP is the second-largest iron ore mining company in the Pilbara, behind

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, a ...

and ahead of 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 ...

.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 In 2010, BHP employed 8,000 people in its Pilbara operations.About BHP Iron Ore
BHP website, accessed: 10 November 2010

Overview

The Mount Whaleback deposit was discovered in 1957 by Stan Hilditch but not publicised until 1960, when the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

lifted the embargo on iron ore exports it had put in place because of concerns the mineral was in short supply.Newman
''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', published: 8 February 2004, accessed: 10 November 2010 The first mine to develop was the

Goldsworthy mine Goldsworthy (named after the geographical feature Mount Goldsworthy) is a former mining town in Western Australia, east of Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland and located in the Shire of East Pilbara. It was the first iron ore mine in t ...

in 1965 and a railway line, the

Goldsworthy railway The Goldsworthy railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Mount Newman railw ...

, as well as port facilities at Finucane Island were constructed. On 1 June 1966, the first shipment of iron ore from the Pilbara left on board of the ''Harvey S. Mudd''.History of the Iron Ore Industry and the Pilbara
BHP Billiton website, accessed: 10 November 2010

's operations in Newman date back to 1968, when the Mount Whaleback mine was opened, the biggest single-pit

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 (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

iron ore mine in the world, developed originally by

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

company

Bechtel Pacific Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked B ...

. The mine is 1.5 kilometres wide, more than five kilometres long and is scheduled to eventually reach a depth of 0.5 kilometres.Mining and Processing
BHP website, accessed: 10 November 2010 A new town, Newman, was constructed, as well as a 426 kilometre railway line, the

Mount Newman railway The Mount Newman railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Goldsworthy rail ...

. The first train left Newman on 1 January 1969 and the first shipment of Newman ore left port on 1 April 1969 on board of the ''Osumi Maru''. Newman remained a "closed" company town until 1981. Ore from the mines is transported by rail to Port Hedland through two independent railways. The Mount Newman railway carries ore from Mount Whaleback, Orebodies 18, 23 and 25, Jimblebar, Yandi and Area C. The

Yarrie mine The Yarrie mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 90 kilometres north-east of Marble Bar. The mine is majority-owned (85 percent)Rail
BHP website, accessed: 10 November 2010 Ore from the Mount Whaleback and the other Newman mines, as well as the Yandi mine is transported to the port at Nelson Point, while ore from Area C and Yarrie goes to Finucane Island. Ore is transported through a 1.16 kilometre long tunnel from Nelson Point to the port at Finucane Island. The average loading time for a ship is 30 hours and 800 ships are loaded annually at Port Hedland.Ports
BHP website, accessed: 10 November 2010 The mine can be visited on a 1.5 hour tour.Attractions
Newman website, accessed: 10 November 2010

References

External links

BHP website

MINEDEX website
Database of the

{{Iron ore railways in the Pilbara Iron ore mines in Western Australia Surface mines in Australia Shire of East Pilbara BHP Itochu