Mount Newman - Western Australia
Location:
Mt Newman is located 426 km SSE by rail from Port Hedland. 23° 21' S 119° 44' E
Photographs:
Satellite image.
Background Information:
Mt Newman is an iron ore mine in the Opthalmia Range located at the bottom of the satellite image. The settlement is a light green circular area and the mine is to the west and is coloured purply red. The mine, Mt Whaleback is probably the richest deposit in the great Hamersley Iron Province which starts at the coast north of Onslow and runs ESE for more than 500 km. The province contains vast quantities of iron-bearing material, an estimated 24,000 million tonnes at 55% iron. The Mt Newman deposits are in a mineral lease covering nearly 800 square km. Mt Whaleback is the prime ore body and is a hill 5.5 km long and 225 m high and lies in the Newman area of the lease at the eastern edge of the Opthalmia Range. Its ore body was discovered by veteran prospector Stan Hilditch and assayed at 68.8% iron content (with a possible maximum of 70% pure iron). There are still reserves of more than 1,400 million tonnes of high grade iron, making Mt Whaleback one of the largest single deposits of haematite ore in the world. The mine has a productive capacity of more than 40 million tonnes a year. A beneficiation plant converts the medium grade ore into high grade ore with more than 54% iron content. Mt Newman's operation has helped to transform Port Hedland from a tidal port restricted to ships of less than 5,000 tonnes into the biggest exporting port in Australia in terms of tonnage throughput. It is capable of handling carriers of 180,000 tonnes.