Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	22° 44' 26'' South , 119° 18' 54'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-22.74081,119.31516
GeoHash:	G#: qeuyeh4th
Locality type:	Mine
Köppen climate type:	BWh : Hot deserts climate

Detailed maps, including an EPA report locate this mine along the lower western side of the Weeli Wolli Creek. However, satellite images failed to show a mine at the location at the time of review (2018). We are not certain how a major industrial scale iron ore mine can be a lost locality, other than Google satellite images are severely out of date. Mineral Resources Ltd confirm in their 2017 annual report, the mine has produced 8 million tonnes of iron ore for the year.

The iron ore mine is 75 kilometres north-west of Newman. The lease borders those held by Rio Tinto for its Yandicoogina iron ore mine. This would normally have been a stranded lease, with no access to mine to port rail facilities, wedged between mines operated by multi national companies. However, the people backing the mine have deep pockets.

The lease was originally owned by Iron Ore Holdings, backed by Kerry Stokes, one of the richest men in the country. They came to an agreement with Mineral Resources to operate a small mine. Mineral Resources is a mining service company, which decided to start mining iron ore directly. The company made founder Chris Ellison one of the richest men in Western Australia. Late 2013, BC Iron bought out Iron Ore Holdings. BC Iron was formed in 2006 from the amalgamation of Ukrainian based Consolidated Minerals and Alkane Exploration. Part of the deal was Mineral Resources could continue to develop the mine, which commenced production on August 2014.

Ore is hauled by road train to Port Hedland. The company has flagged the idea of building a monorail 331 kilometres from the mine to Port Hedland. This would be on an elevated 10 metre high track, with driverless BOT trains capable of carrying 4600 tonnes of ore each (normally Pilbara trains carry about 25 000 tonnes). The company states a test line is being built in China by China Southern Rail. The idea confused analysts, who are not certain if the idea is technically or financially viable.

The mine has a JORC resource Probable 134 Mt at 58.5% Fe (with a 53% Fe cut-off), and general resource of 246.8 Mt at 58.4% Fe (with a 50% Fe cut-off). Ore reserves are 129.9 Mt. Current production from the mine is 7 to 12 mtpa, with the potential of up to 16 mpta, with a mine life of 10 years.

The lease is dominated by an escarpment on its western side, trending north-east to south-west, dropping from 590 metres to 535 metres, incised by a number of gullies, and a larger valley. The land undulates eastwards, to a low ridge in the centre of the lease. There is a hill in the north-west corner, and the south-east of the lease is flat.

Mineralisation occurs as outcropping and buried banded iron formation in the Joffre Member, and detrital material. The deposit extends for 6 kilometres, 50 to 600 metres wide, 15 to 120 metres thick.

At the surface is Quarternary alluvium soil and coarse banded iron formation fragments 5 to 75 metres thick. This contains variable hematite, goethite, magnetite fragments, partially cemented in a red clay matrix.

Next is the Weeli Wolli Formation, 300 metres thick, of chert and shale with minor banded iron formation, intruded by dolerite sills.

Then the Brockman Iron Formation which is divided into four members. The first at the site is the Yandicoogina Shale Member, 60 metres thick, of interbedded chert and shale, locally intruded by dolerite sills. The Joffre Member, 360 metres thick, dominated by banded iron formations, with minor thin shale bands. This is further sub-divided into 6 units- J1-J6, with J1, J3, J5 containing more shale than J2, J4 and J6. This member contains the majority of the ore at the site. The Whaleback Shale Member, 50 metres thick of alternating shale bands. The Dales Gorge Member, 150 metres thick, an alternating assemblage of 17 banded iron formation macrobands, and 16 shale macrobands.

The deposit is in an anticline of the Brockman Iron Formation, plunging south, with a series of folding structures outcropping across the escarpment, with fold axes trending north-east to south-west. The deposit is bisected by a dolerite dyke in the large valley in the escarpment, trending north-east to south-west and splitting the orebody. There is also a north-south trending fault through the middle of the orebody.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

3 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Regional Geology

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Paleoproterozoic 1600 - 2500 Ma ID: 744416

Weeli Wolli Formation Age: Proterozoic (1600 - 2500 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Weeli Wolli Formation Description: Banded iron-formation (commonly jaspilitic), mudstone, siltstone; common interlayered metadoleritic sills. Comments: sedimentary non-carbonate chemical or biochemical; igneous mafic intrusive; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Sedimentary non-carbonate chemical or biochemical; igneous mafic intrusive Reference: Raymond, O.L., Liu, S., Gallagher, R., Zhang, W., Highet, L.M. Surface Geology of Australia 1:1 million scale dataset 2012 edition. Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia). [5]

Siderian - Neoarchean 2300 - 2800 Ma ID: 3185955

Archean-Paleoproterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks Age: Precambrian (2300 - 2800 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Hamersley Group Comments: Hamersley Basin Lithology: Strataform assemblage(s); felsic volcanic rocks; chert,carbonate,iron formation,shale Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

References

External Links