PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore contributed A$61.7-billion in earnings to Western Australia during 2017/18, with the sector accounting for more than half of all mineral and petroleum sales.
Resources Minister Bill Johnston on Wednesday told delegates at the Global Iron & Steel Forecast that a record 826-million tonnes of iron-ore was exported from Western Australia during 2017/18, with Western Australian iron-ore accounting for nearly 98% of Australia’s iron-ore output.
During the same period, Western Australia attracted 96% of Australia’s iron-ore exploration expenditure, which reached A$284-million, the Minister said.
“In 2018, all three iron-ore major producers, Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue announced major investments worth about A$11-billion,” Johnston said, noting that the projects could create nearly 6 000 jobs combined.
Rio is developing its $3.5-billion Koodaideri mine, while BHP approved a $4.2-billion investment into its South Flank project, which will become the largest iron-ore mine in Australia, once operational, and would account for nearly 25% of Western Australia’s iron-ore production in future.
Fortescue, in turn, is developing its $1.7-billion Eliwana mine, which is expected to produce at a rate of 30-million tonnes a year.
Johnston noted that Western Australia is estimated to have some 50-billion tonnes of economic demonstrated iron-ore reserves, which is sufficient to sustain current production rates for another 60 years.