Pardoo Atlas Project, De Grey Station, Port Hedland Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Pardoo Atlas Project	Mine
De Grey Station	- not defined -
Port Hedland Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

75 kilometres east of Port Hedland, just north of the Great Northern Highway, in the Ord Ranges. Owned and operated by Atlas Iron. Iron ore is mined from a number of small pits, and trucked to Port Hedland. The site also includes the undeveloped Ridley magnetite project. This contains a resource of 2 billion tonnes. Magnetite is an iron oxide, and is considered the poor cousin of iron hematite ore. Recent tests have shown the material can be processed into a high quality product for steel mills. However, it is expensive to process, involving being crushed to fine particles, then giant magnets, to strip the magnetite away from the impurities. Estimated cost to build the mine is 2.7 billion (Australian), and Atlas has been seeking partners for a number of years to get the project off the ground.

Atlas was started by geologist David Flanagan in 2004. Described as half Irish, half Polish, pale, freckly, with red-blonde hair. He was working for the company controlling the Karara leases in the Mid-West, when nearby Mount Gibson offered one million dollars for mining rights of the leases. An investigation of old maps revealed they were sitting on a huge magnetite deposit.

Flanagan left to form Atlas, after reading Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist', whose young shepherd hero leaves his flock to find treasure. At least that is what he told one of Australia's leading journalists. He also terrorises potential overseas investors who visit the mine site, with stories of snakes, crocodiles, and killer bees. Atlas is still looking for a partner to develop the deposit.

As far as a traditional iron ore deposit, Atlas started mining here is October 2008, after they discovered the deposit in 2005. The tiger iron specimen location is nearby, so it should have come as no surprise. The deposits account for 7.4 Mt producing 1.5 Mtpa. Fourteen deposits and one channel ore location have been identified in the area.

The area of mining and prospects is 15 kms x 15 kms. Its starts from the South Lamb pit near the Great Northern Highway, north to Bobby in the north, totalling six small pits. This may expand over time.

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