The Wodgina mine is an exhausted iron ore 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 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 ...

, 90 kilometres south of

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 ...

. The mine was operated by

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.

Limited. The facilities and tenements are shared, by contract, with

Global Advanced Metals Talison Minerals Pty Ltd was a mining company based in Australia. It was split into Talison Lithium (as of 2020 a 51:49 jv between Tianqi Lithium and Albemarle Corporation) and Talison Tantalum, now known as Global Advanced Metals, in 2009. The ...

Overview

Atlas purchased the iron ore rights for the Wodgina Project from Talison Minerals Pty Ltd, now known as Global Advanced Metals, in February 2008.Wodgina
Atlas website. Retrieved 24 November 2010 The project was fast tracked by Atlas, going from the first drilling program to production in just over one and a half years. The company was aided by the ability to use the existing but dormant processing infrastructure of the

tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that ...

mine owned by Talison (Global Advanced Metals) in the area. At the time, the tantalum mine had been placed on

care and maintenance Care and maintenance is a term used in the mining industry to describe processes and conditions on a closed minesite where there is potential to recommence operations at a later date. During a care and maintenance phase, production is stopped but t ...

by Global Advanced Metals and in January 2011, the company announced that it would restart tantalum production. Less than a year after it reopened, due to softening global demand, tantalum mining operations ceased at the end of February 2012. In July 2010, Atlas commenced production at the Wodgina mine. The company planned to lift production from its Pilbara operations to 20 million tonnes of iron ore by 2012, up from 6.5 million tonnes in late 2010. Of this, 10 million tonnes were expected to come from the new Turner River hub, which was to blend and process ore from the company's northern Pilbara projects, located at Wodgina, Abydos and Mt Webber.Atlas Iron lifts exports ahead of schedule
''

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 ...

''. 1 November 2010, Retrieved 24 November 2010 Atlas was hopeful to come to terms with BHP Billiton for the use of that company's rail infrastructure, 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 rai ...

. BHP, in late 2010, had agreed to a joint feasibility study into how an arrangement might work. Mining at Wodgina ceased on 5 April 2017 when reserves were exhausted.

References

External links

Wodgina Lithium Project Website

MINEDEX website: Wodgina Iron/Atlas
Database of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety {{Iron ore railways in the Pilbara Atlas Iron Iron ore mines in Western Australia Surface mines in Australia Port Hedland, Western Australia 2010 establishments in Australia 2017 disestablishments in Australia