Iron Bridge Mine (North Star; Glacier Valley), East Pilbara Shire, Western Australia, Australiai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Iron Bridge Mine (North Star; Glacier Valley) | Mine |
| East Pilbara Shire | Shire |
| Western Australia | State |
| Australia | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
21° 15' 16'' South , 119° 3' 31'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Locality type:
Köppen climate type:
Magnetite mine. Operated by Fortescue Metals Group. Iron Bridge, also commonly called North Star (North Star and Glacier Valley are the names of the ore bodies), is 110 kilometres south of Port Hedland, and 45 kilometres east of the Great Northern Highway, roughly on the same latitude as the Wodgina tantalite mine.
It has a resource of 11.3 Mtpa, with stage 1 mining 1.5 Mtpa over two years 2013 to 2015. The mine is located on the top of a flat topped ridge, striking north-south, 500-800 metres wide, forming the divide between the Shaw, Turner and Shelley Rivers.
Magnetite is found in banded iron formation as a member of the Pincunah Formation. There are a number of faults in the banded iron formation, parallel to strike. The Footwall (western) banded iron formation is poorly exposed shales up to 500 metres thick, while the Hanging Wall (eastern) shows interbedded shales, mudstones, chert, banded iron formation and quartzite beds each 1 to 20 metres thick.
The magnetite is found within the banded iron formation. The top 30-50 metres below the surface is oxidised magnetite to hematite and goethite and sub-economic. North Star is a large magnetite body with a small hematite body on top. The Glacier deposit is 100% magnetite.
The ore was trucked to Port Hedland. Magnetite is an iron oxide, which like hematite is made into steel.
Expansion of the mine has been prevented as the rare Pilbara leaf nosed bat lives in a cave nearby.
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Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
3 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
Note: data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!
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Alphabetical List Tree DiagramDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Goethite Formula: α-Fe3+O(OH) Reference: Moonie, P. and Griffiths, S., (2011) North Star Landform and Soil Report - Environment, (prepared on behalf of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd) 09 March 2011. |
| ⓘ Hematite Formula: Fe2O3 Reference: Moonie, P. and Griffiths, S., (2011) North Star Landform and Soil Report - Environment, (prepared on behalf of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd) 09 March 2011. |
| ⓘ Magnetite Formula: Fe2+Fe3+2O4 Reference: Moonie, P. and Griffiths, S., (2011) North Star Landform and Soil Report - Environment, (prepared on behalf of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd) 09 March 2011. |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Goethite | 4.00. | α-Fe3+O(OH) |
| ⓘ | Hematite | 4.CB.05 | Fe2O3 |
| ⓘ | Magnetite | 4.BB.05 | Fe2+Fe3+2O4 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Goethite | α-Fe3+O(OH) |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
| O | ⓘ Hematite | Fe2O3 |
| O | ⓘ Goethite | α-Fe3+O(OH) |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
| Fe | ⓘ Hematite | Fe2O3 |
| Fe | ⓘ Goethite | α-Fe3+O(OH) |
References
Sort by
Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)FMG (2012), Referral of Proposed Action North Star Hematite Project, FMG, May 2012
Moonie, P. and Griffiths, S., (2011) North Star Landform and Soil Report - Environment, (prepared on behalf of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd) 09 March 2011.
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Australia
- Western Australia
- Pilbara CratonCraton
- Warakurna Large Igneous ProvinceGeologic Province
- West Australian ElementCraton
Australian PlateTectonic Plate
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