The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in the north 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 is known for its

Aboriginal peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular

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 ...

. It is also a global

biodiversity hotspot A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the co ...

for

subterranean fauna The endemic of Dinaric Alps">Endemism.html" ;"title="olm (''Proteus anguinus''), a typical cave dwelling chordate, Endemism">endemic of Dinaric Alps. Subterranean fauna refers to Animal, animal species that are adaptation, adapted to live in an un ...

Definitions of the Pilbara region

At least two important but differing definitions of "the Pilbara" region exist. Administratively it is one of the nine regions of Western Australia defined by the ''

Regional Development Commissions Act 1993 The ''Regional Development Commissions Act 1993'' is legislation passed by the Parliament of Western Australia: to establish regional development commissions, to coordinate and promote the development of regions and to establish a regional devel ...

''; the term also refers to the Pilbara shrublands

bioregion A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use the ...

(which differs in extent) under the

Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was devel ...

(IBRA).

General

The Pilbara region, as defined by the

and administered for economic development purposes by the Pilbara Development Commission, has an estimated population of 61,688 , and covers an area of . It contains some of Earth's oldest rock formations, and includes landscapes of coastal plains and mountain ranges with cliffs and gorges. The major settlements of the region are

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 Ha ...

, Karratha and Newman. The three main ports in this region are Port Hedland, Dampier and

Port Walcott Port Walcott, formerly known as Tien Tsin Harbour, is a large open water harbour located on the northwest coast of Western Australia, located near the town of Point Samson. History Before the port was established, the land was inhabited by th ...

. The area is known for its

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

and iron ore deposits, which contribute significantly to

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...

economy. Other than mining, pastoral activities as well as fishing and tourism are the main industries.

Urban centres and localities

Local government

The Pilbara region, under the Pilbara Development Commission, contains four

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...

: :Ashburton –

Shire of Ashburton The Shire of Ashburton is one of the four local government areas in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, covering an area of . It is named after the Ashburton River. The shire's administration centre is in the town of Tom Price. It had a ...

:East Pilbara –

Shire of East Pilbara The Shire of East Pilbara is one of the four local government areas in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. With an area of , larger than the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania combined, it is the largest local government region in ...

:Karratha –

City of Karratha The City of Karratha is one of the four local government areas in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It covers an area of and had a population of about 21,500 as at the 2016 Census, most of which is located in its seat of government, the ...

:Port Hedland –

Town of Port Hedland The Town of Port Hedland is a local government area in the Pilbara region of Western Australia containing the twin settlements of Port Hedland and South Hedland and the industrial precinct of Wedgefield. It had a population of approximately ...

Etymology

The Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre ''Wangka Maya'' says that the name for the Pilbara region derives from the Aboriginal word ''bilybara'', meaning "dry" in the

Nyamal The Nyamal are an Indigenous Australian, Indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara area of north-western Western Australia. Language A version of Nyamal language, Nyamal became the basis of a pidgin used among workers on pearling luggers in th ...

and Banyjima languages. Alternatively, the Western Australia Gas Industry claims that the region takes its name from ''pilbarra'', an Aboriginal word for the mullet that is available in local waters. The Pilbara Creek (originally spelt "Pilbarra") is a tributary of the

Yule River The Yule River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It was named on 10 August 1861 by the surveyor and explorer Frank Gregory while on expedition in the area, after Thomas Newte Yule, at times farmer of Toodyay, w ...

, a significant river in the region.

Sea mullet The flathead grey mullet (''Mugil cephalus'') is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically . It is known with numerous English names ...

and

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sout ...

can still be caught in the Yule River today. Pilbara Goldfield, discovered in 1885, was named after the creek, and the name later became associated with the region.

History

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

estimates in evidence show that

rock art In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...

and standing stones in the world heritage-listed Murujuga Cultural Landscape in

Dampier Archipelago The Dampier Archipelago is a group of 42 islands near the town of Dampier in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The archipelago is also made up of reefs, shoals, channels and straits and is the traditional home of five Aboriginal language group ...

, Australia's earliest known stone structures, believably dating from 6046 to 5338 BC, are of contextualization by thousands of years of unique cultural traditions and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. These sites have lived up as part of survival in present times. The first European to explore the area was

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

in 1861. Within two years, European settlers had begun arriving. The region was regarded as part of the

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

at first – a larger area that included the modern Kimberley and Gascoyne regions. Settlements along the coast at Tien Tsin Harbour (later Cossack), Roebourne and Condon (officially Shellborough; later abandoned) were established over ensuing decades, mainly as centres of the rangeland livestock (grazing/pastoral) industry or pearling ports. However, as natural

mother of pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

beds around Cossack were fished out, the pearling fleet began to move northward, and by 1883 it was based at Broome, in the Kimberley region. From , pastoralism went into decline with the growth of other, more productive agricultural areas of the state. Mining in the region started on 1 October 1888, when the Pilbara Goldfield was officially declared – named after a local creek, the goldfield would later give its name to the region as a whole. It was later divided into the Nullagine Goldfield and

Marble Bar Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphosed ...

Goldfield. However, gold mining began to decline in the Pilbara in the mid-1890s, after

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

ore had been exhausted. In 1937, mining of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

commenced at

Wittenoom Gorge Wittenoom is a declared contaminated site and former townsite north-north-east of Perth, in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The declared contaminated site comprises , making it the "largest contaminated site i ...

. While the presence of abundant

had been known for about a century, it was not until the 1960s and the discovery of high-grade ore in 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 ...

s that the area became pivotal to the state's economy, and towns built to accommodate mining and allied services boomed. In the 1950s, three British nuclear weapons tests were carried out in the

Montebello Islands The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands (about 92 of which are named) lying north of Barrow Island and off the Pilbara coast of north-western Australia. The islands f ...

, 130 km (81 mi) off the Pilbara coast.

Aboriginal peoples

Prehistory

The Aboriginal population of the Pilbara considerably predates, by 30–40,000 years, the European colonisation of the region.

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

evidence indicates that people were living in the Pilbara even during the harsh climatic conditions of the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...

. The early history of the first peoples is held within an

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...

, archeological evidence and

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s. Near the town of Dampier is a peninsula known as

Murujuga Murujuga, formerly known as Dampier Island and today usually known as the Burrup Peninsula, is in the Dampier Archipelago, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, containing the town of Dampier. The Dampier Rock Art Precinct, which covers ...

, which contains a large collection of world heritage listed petroglyphs, dating back thousands of years.

Rock art In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...

in the Pilbara appears to have been primarily etched into the hard rock surfaces, compared to predominantly paintings on the softer sandstone in the Kimberley. This does not preclude that painting was and is not performed in the Pilbara. Burrup rock art

20th century

Working conditions in the pearling and pastoral industries for Aboriginal people in the Pilbara region around 1900 have been described as

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, with no wages paid, kidnapping as well as severe and cruel punishments for misbehaviour and absconding all common practices. Some incidents, such as the Bendu Atrocity of 1897, attracted international condemnation. The first strike by Indigenous people in Australia took place in 1946 in the Pilbara, known as the

Pilbara strike The 1946 Pilbara strike was a landmark Strike action, strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for human rights recognition, payment of fair wages and working conditions. The strike involved at l ...

or Pilbara Aboriginal strike, when Aboriginal pastoral workers walked off the stations in protest at low pay and bad working conditions, a strike that lasted for over three years. Family clans in the Pilbara who were supported by mining prospector,

Don McLeod Donald Martin "Smokey" McLeod (August 24, 1946 – March 11, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played briefly in the National Hockey League and six full seasons in the World Hockey Association between 1970 and 1978. Pl ...

, developed skills for mining and the concentration of rare metals. For a short period money accumulated, which according to Aboriginal law was to be used for traditional ways. Eventually the funds were used to establish an independent Aboriginal-controlled school. The concept has expanded into a movement with around 20 similar schools established in northern Western Australia by the mid 1990s. Jan Richardson, wife of Victorian Aboriginal activist Stan Davey, wrote a biography of McLeod as a

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

21st century

In 2006, it was estimated that 15% of the population of the Pilbara identify as

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, approximately 6,000 people. Many Pilbara communities face the many complex effects of colonisation, and lack adequate access to housing, health and education. A 1971 survey of 1,000 Aboriginal people conducted by Pat McPherson found that most had one or more serious diseases. At the

McClelland Royal Commission The McClelland Royal Commission or Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia was an inquiry by the Australian government in 1984–1985 to investigate the conduct of the British in its use, with the then Australian government's p ...

into British nuclear testing, Aboriginals from the Pilbara provided evidence regarding the explosion on the Montebello Islands. Aboriginal communities are sited over a number of different places. Many have poor infrastructure, and relations between police and Aboriginal people are often tense.

Location and description

Hamersley Range, Pilbara Region, Western Australia

Under the ''Regional Development Commissions Act'' Pilbara is situated south of the Kimberley, and is made up of the

of Shire of Ashburton, Shire of East Pilbara, City of Karratha and Town of Port Hedland. The Pilbara region covers an area of 507,896 km² (193,826 mi²) (including offshore islands), roughly the combined land area of the US States of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. It has a population of more than 45,000, most of whom live in the western third of the region, in towns such as

, Karratha, Wickham, Newman and

. A substantial number of people also work in the region on a fly-in/fly-out basis. There are approximately 10 major/medium population centres and more than 25 smaller ones Karijini8

The Pilbara consists of three distinct geographic areas. The western third is the Roebourne coastal sandplain, which supports most of the region's population in towns and much of its industry and commerce. The eastern third is almost entirely desert, and is sparsely populated by a small number of Aboriginal peoples. These are separated by the inland uplands of the

Pilbara Craton The Pilbara Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the ...

, including the predominant

which has a considerable number of mining towns, the

Chichester Range The Chichester Range is a range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The range rises abruptly from the coastal plain and is composed of rolling hills, escarpments, jagged peaks, gorges and winding tree-lined watercourses. The range is ...

and others. These uplands have a number of gorges and other natural attractions. The Pilbara contains some of the world's oldest surface rocks, including the ancient fossilised remains known as

stromatolites Stromatolites () or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). Th ...

and rocks such as

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

s that are more than three billion years old. In 2007, some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth was found in 3.4 billion-year-old sandstones at

Strelley Pool Marble Bar is a town and rock formation in the Pilbara region of north-western Western Australia. Its extremely hot climate, with a mean maximum temperature second only to Wyndham, Western Australia has resulted in the town being well known for ...

, which preserve fossils of sulfur-processing bacteria. The mineralized spheres, which were found on an ancient beach and have a cell-like

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

, were chemically analysed, revealing that they used

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

for fuel.

Climate

Maitland River bridge Western Australia 2004-04-14

The climate of the Pilbara is

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

. It experiences high temperatures and low irregular rainfall that follows the summer

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

s. During the summer months, maximum temperatures exceed almost every day, and temperatures in excess of are not uncommon. Winter temperatures rarely drop below on the coast; however, inland temperatures as low as are occasionally recorded. The Pilbara town of

set a world record of most consecutive days of maximum

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

s of 100 degrees

Fahrenheit The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his ...

(37.8 degrees

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

) or more, during a period of 160 such days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924. The average annual rainfall in the region is between . Almost all of the Pilbara's rainfall occurs between December and May, usually with occasional heavy downpours in

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

s or tropical cyclones. The period from June to November is usually completely rainless, with warm to very hot and sunny conditions. Like most of the north coast of Australia, the coastal areas of the Pilbara experience occasional tropical cyclones. The frequency of cyclones crossing the Pilbara coast is about 7 every 10 years. Due to the low population density in the Pilbara region, cyclones rarely cause large scale destruction or loss of life.

Economy

The Pilbara's economy is dominated by

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

exports and

export industries.

Iron ore

Jasperlite (iron formation) Melbourne Museum

Most of

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 ...

is mined in the Pilbara, with mines mostly centred around Tom Price and Newman. The iron ore industry employs 9,000 people from the Pilbara area. The Pilbara also has one of the world's major

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

mines, Woodie Woodie, situated southeast of Port Hedland. Iron ore deposits were first discovered by prospector Stan Hilditch, who in 1957 found a large iron ore deposit in the southern Ophthalmia Range, at what was to become the

Mount Whaleback mine The Mount Whaleback mine, officially the Newman West operation, is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, six kilometres west of Newman. The mine is majority-owned (85 percent) and operated by BHP, and is one of fi ...

. In the 1960s, it was reportedly called "one of the most massive ore bodies in the world" by Thomas Price, then vice president of US-based steel company Kaiser Steel.

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...

calculated that the country's " economic demonstrated resources" of iron amounted to 24 gigatonnes, or 24 billion tonnes. According to the

Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) is a federal research branch of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, located in Canberra, Australia. ABARES was establi ...

, , that resource is being used up at a rate of 324 million tonnes a year, with rates expected to increase over coming years. Experts

Gavin Mudd Gavin M. Mudd is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering at RMIT University, Australia. He was awarded a Ph.D. in environmental engineering in 2001, from the Victoria University of Technology. Mudd's research in ...

(

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

) and Jonathon Law (

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

) expect it to be gone within 30 to 50 years (Mudd) and 56 years (Law). , active iron ore mines in the Pilbara are: *

BC Iron BC most often refers to: * Before Christ, a calendar era based on the traditionally reckoned year of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth * British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada * Baja California, a state of Mexico BC may also refer to: ...

** Iron Valley mine *

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 ...

** Area C mine ** Jimblebar mine **

** Orebodies 18, 23 and 25 mine **

Yandi mine The Yandi mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 90 kilometres north-west of Newman. It should not be confused with Rio Tinto's nearby Yandicoogina mine, which is also sometimes shortened to Yandi. The mi ...

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)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 ...

** Christmas Creek mine **

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 ...

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, ...

Brockman mine The Brockman 2 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 60 kilometres north-west of Tom Price. It should not be confused with Rio Tinto's Brockman 4 mine, also in the area.

Brockman 4 mine The Brockman 4 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north-west of Tom Price. The mine, located near the existing Brockman mine, was opened in 2010.Channar mine The Channar mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 17 kilometres south-east of Paraburdoo. The mine is partly owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of fifteen iron ore mines the company operat ...

Eastern Range mine The Eastern Range mine is an iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 10 kilometres south-east of Paraburdoo. The mine is partly owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of twelve iron ore mines the company operates ...

Hope Downs mine The Hope Downs mine is an iron ore mining complex located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It comprises four large open-pit mines (Hope 1 North, Hope 1 South, Hope 4 and Baby Hope). The mines are co-owned by the Hancock Group and ...

Marandoo mine The Marandoo mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 45 kilometres east of Tom Price. The mine is fully owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of seventeen iron ore mines the company operates ...

** Mesa A mine ** Mesa J mine **

Mount Tom Price mine The Mount Tom Price mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, near the town of Tom Price. The mine is fully owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of twelve iron ore mines the company operates in ...

Nammuldi mine The Nammuldi mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 60 kilometres north-west of Tom Price. The mine is fully owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is one of seventeen iron ore mines the company opera ...

Paraburdoo mine The Paraburdoo mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, near Paraburdoo. The mine is owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore, and is one of twelve iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara.

West Angelas mine The West Angelas mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 110 kilometres North West of Newman.Yandicoogina mine The Yandicoogina mine, often shortened to Yandi, is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 95 kilometres north-west of Newman. it should not be confused with BHP Billiton's Yandi mine, which is located nearby. Th ...

Atlas Iron Atlas Iron is an Australian mining company and an iron ore explorer, developer and producer, predominantly active in the Pilbara region and is owned by Redstone Resources, a fully owned subsidiary of Hancock Prospecting.

Pardoo mine The Pardoo mine was an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 75 kilometres east of Port Hedland. The mine was fully owned and operated by Atlas Iron and was, at the time of commencement of production, the company's ...

* Moly Mines **

Spinifex Ridge Spinifex Ridgem mine is an inactive iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Australia, northeast of Marble Bar. Overview Moly Mines awarded production contracts to Buckeridge Group of Companies, BGC Contracting in August 2010. Initially, there w ...

(

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

)

Liquified natural gas

A significant part of Pilbara's economy is based on

liquified natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

(LNG) through the

North West Shelf Venture The North West Shelf Venture, situated in the north-west of Western Australia, is Australia's largest resource development project. It involves the extraction of petroleum (mostly natural gas and condensate) at offshore production platforms, o ...

and Pluto LNG plant, both operated by Woodside.

Agriculture

Millstream-Chichester National Park DSC04096

The region also has a number of cattle-grazing stations, and a substantial tourist sector, with popular natural attractions including the Karijini and Millstream-Chichester national parks and the

Transport

The first railway in the Pilbara region was the

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

Marble Bar Railway The Port Hedland–Marble Bar railway was a railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, running into the hinterland from the north-west coast. History The line was a Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) gauge branch line whic ...

between

and

. The

opened in July 1911 and closed in October 1951. The Roebourne-Cossack Tramway opened in 1897 and many industrial railways have been built to serve the mines. Five heavy-duty railways are associated with the various iron-ore mines. They are all

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

and built to the heaviest North American standards. Rio Tinto runs driverless trains on its railways.

Ports

The ports of the Pilbara are: *

** Nelson Point and Finucane Island (operated by

) ** Herb Elliott Port (operated by 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 ...

) * Dampier (operated by

) *

Cape Lambert Cape Lambert is a port facility operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located 40 kilometres north of Karratha.

(operated by Rio Tinto) * Anketell Port (under development)

Ecology

Terrestrial

The dominant flora of the Pilbara is

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

trees and shrubs and drought-resistant Triodia ''spinifex'' grasses. Several species of acacia (wattle) trees are endemic to the Pilbara and are the focus of conservation programs, along with wildflowers and other local specialities. The Pilbara is home to a wide variety of endemic species adapted to this tough environment. There is a high diversity of invertebrates, including hundreds of species of

(both stygofauna and

troglofauna Troglofauna are small cave-dwelling animals that have adapted to their dark surroundings. Troglofauna and stygofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna (based on life-history). Both are associated with subterranean environments – troglofa ...

), which are microscopic invertebrates that live in caves, vugs or groundwater

aquifers An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

of the region, and terrestrial fauna (see

short-range endemic invertebrates Short-range endemic (SRE) invertebrates are animals that display restricted geographic distributions, nominally less than 10,000 km2, that may also be disjunct and highly localised. The most appropriate analogy is that of an island, where the m ...

). The Pilbara

olive python The olive python (''Liasis olivaceus'')
a

, the

western pebble-mound mouse Western pebble-mound mouse or Ngadji, species ''Pseudomys chapmani'', is a burrowing and mound building rodent in the family Muridae. They occur in the Pilbara, a remote region in the northwest of Australia. Taxonomy The species was describ ...

, and the

Pilbara ningaui The Pilbara ningaui (''Ningaui timealeyi''), sometimes known as Ealey's ningaui, is a tiny species of marsupial carnivore found in Australia. Taxonomy The species was described by Mike Archer in 1975, distinguishing the new taxon from other ...

of the Hamersley Range are among the many species of animals within the fragile ecosystems of this desert ecoregion. Birds include the

Australian hobby The Australian hobby (''Falco longipennis''), also known as the little falcon, is one of six Australian members of the family Falconidae. This predominantly diurnal bird of prey derives its name ‘''longipennis''’ from its long primary wing f ...

nankeen kestrel The nankeen kestrel (''Falco cenchroides''), also known as the Australian kestrel, is a raptor native to Australia and New Guinea. It is one of the smallest falcons, and unlike many, does not rely on speed to catch its prey. Instead, it simply pe ...

spotted harrier The spotted harrier (''Circus assimilis'') also known as the smoke hawk, is a large Australasian bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae. Taxonomy The spotted harrier belongs to the family Accipitridae. Accipitridae is the largest fami ...

, mulga parrot and

budgerigar The budgerigar ( ; ''Melopsittacus undulatus''), also known as the common parakeet or shell parakeet, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot usually nicknamed the budgie ( ), or in American English, the parakeet. Budgies are the only spe ...

s. Wildlife has been damaged by the extraction of iron, natural gas and asbestos, but the protection of culturally and environmentally sensitive areas of the Pilbara is now enhanced by the delineation of several protected areas, including the Millstream-Chichester and the

Karijini National Park Karijini National Park is an Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricorn, from the state's capital city, ...

Freshwater

The western Pilbara is part of the Pilbara freshwater ecoregion, also known as the Pilbara-Gascoyne or Indian Ocean drainage basin. The freshwater region is characterized by

intermittent river Intermittent, temporary or seasonal rivers or streams cease to flow every year or at least twice every five years.(Tzoraki et al., 2007) Such rivers drain large arid and semi-arid areas, covering approximately a third of the earth's surface. ...

s which form deep gorges, and brackish-water caves that host endemic species. The region includes the drainages of the Murchison,

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

, Ashburton,

Fortescue Fortescue may refer to: People * Fortescue (surname), a British surname ''Includes list of name-holders'' * Fortescue Ash (1882–1956), Anglican bishop in Australia * Fortescue Graham (1794–1880), British Royal Marines general Places * Fo ...

, and De Grey rivers. The Great Sandy Desert, which covers the eastern Pilbara, has little freshwater habitat.

References

* *

External links

Pilbara Development Commission

NASA-Macquarie University Pilbara Education Project

Wattles of the Pilbara

Yamatji Marlpa Barna Baba Maaja Aboriginal Corporation
, the Native Title Representative Body incorporating the Pilbara Native Title Service {{Coord, 21, S, 119, E, display=title, source:dewiki Drainage basins of Australia IBRA regions