North Limited was a diversified mining and resources company. Although based in Australia, its operations eventually extended to six continents. By the late 20th century the company had become the fourth largest iron ore exporter in the world with expansion underway which would have made it equal third. Its biggest asset was a majority stake in Robe River, a major miner of 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 ...

iron ore deposits 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 ...

and the world's lowest cost producer of iron ore.

History

The company was formed in 1888 as North Broken Hill Silver Mining to exploit the rich silver, lead and zinc deposits at Broken Hill in western

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, the name was shortened to North Broken Hill in 1905. Production at the original North Broken Hill mine wound down and it finally closed in 1993. However over the years the company had diversified into other mining provinces. In 1988 they took over

Peko-Wallsend Peko-Wallsend was an Australian mining company. History Peko-Wallsend was founded in 1961 when Peko Mines merged with Wallsend Investments. In 1962 Peko-Wallsend purchased Toll Transport. In January 1968, Peko-Wallsend acquired a majority share ...

, changing its name to North Broken Hill Peko Limited, then North Limited in 1994. At Broken Hill the company had been known as 'North' to distinguish it from other miners in the area such as Broken Hill South and The

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

. The nickname continued long after the company's focus had moved away from Broken Hill, so the new name just formalized what the company had always been known as. By 2000, while North was a widely diversified resource company, iron ore assets represented 44% of its value and investing to begin production at the new West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara was the company's major focus. However money had also been committed to increase production at the Iron Ore Company of Canada and the Northparkes copper and gold mine..

Takeover

Like its peer Western Mining, North developed into a large diversified resources company with one special world class asset that attracted attention from huge mining companies across the world. In the case of Western Mining it was the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium deposit, for North it was Robe River Iron. In 2000 a bidding war for North broke out when

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, ...

launched a

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...

at $3.80 a share. This was topped by an Anglo American bid of $4.20, Rio Tinto responded with a successful offer of $4.75 per share. The company was delisted and after the takeover, Rio Tinto integrated most of North's assets into its own operations, but sold others such as the Northparkes.

Assets

In 2000 when it was taken over, North's major assets were: *Robe River Iron Associates. A large, low cost iron ore miner in the

, Western Australia, 53% interest *

Iron Ore Company of Canada Iron Ore Company of Canada (often abbreviated to IOC) (french: Compagnie Minière IOC) is a Canadian-based producer of iron ore. The company was founded in 1949 from a partnership of Canadian and American M.A. Hanna Company. It is now owned by ...

, an iron ore miner in

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

, 56.1% interest *

Zinkgruvan Zinkgruvan is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Askersund Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden. It had 391 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated close to Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern. The village is famous for its mining indust ...

, a zinc miner in Sweden, 100% ownership *

Energy Resources of Australia Energy Resources of Australia Ltd () is a public company based in Australia. It is a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group which as of 2021 owns 86.3% of the company. The remainder is publicly held and traded on the Australian Securities Exchange. ...

, a uranium producer in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

, 68.4% interest *

Northparkes Northparkes is a copper and gold mine in central New South Wales, Australia, approximately 27 kilometres north-northwest of the town of Parkes. The mine was originally started in 1994 using open pit mining, with underground mining using t ...

copper and gold mine in

, 80% interest *Alumbrera a large copper and gold producer in Argentina, 25% interest *North Forest Products. Tasmanian producer of plantation woodchips (3.3. million tons annually, and 43% of Australian exports) 100% ownership *Golden Valley Joint Venture, Kanowna Belle Gold Mine, 50% interest * Peak Hill Joint Venture gold mine, 33.33% interest *The company was also exploring resource deposits in Australia, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Peru, Mexico and the United States Previously North had owned many mines and companies. Some of them were: *North Broken Hill silver lead and zinc mine *Warman slurry pumps *Former Peko zinc assets, mostly those acquired from EZ Industries,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

that were merged with Rio Tinto assets and spun off to form

Pasminco Pasminco was an Australian mining company founded in 1988. It was placed in voluntary administration in September 2001 with its assets sold in stages until 2004 when the remaining assets were spun-off to Zinifex. History Pasminco was establis ...

in 1988

References

{{Mining companies of Australia, state=collapsed Companies based in Melbourne Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Defunct mining companies of Australia Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries Gold mining companies of Australia History of mining Iron ore mining companies of Australia Non-renewable resource companies established in 1885 Uranium mining companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1885 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2000 Australian companies disestablished in 2000