Yandi mine

Yandi mine
Location
Yandi mine
Location in Australia
Location Pilbara
State Western Australia
Country Australia
Coordinates 22°44′01″S 119°07′06″E / 22.733650°S 119.118202°E / -22.733650; 119.118202Coordinates: 22°44′01″S 119°07′06″E / 22.733650°S 119.118202°E / -22.733650; 119.118202
Production
Products Iron ore
Production 79 million tonnes/annum
History
Opened 1991
Owner
Company

BHP Billiton

Itochu Minerals (8%)

Mitsui Iron (7%)

Website BHP Billiton website

The Yandi mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 90 kilometres north-west of Newman.[1] It should not be confused with Rio Tinto's nearby Yandicoogina mine, which is also sometimes shortened to Yandi.

The mine is majority-owned (85 percent)[2] and operated by BHP Billiton, and is one of seven iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara. The company also operates two port facilities at Port Hedland, Nelson Point and Finucane Island, and over 1,000 kilometres of rail in the Pilbara.[3]

BHP Billiton is the second-largest iron ore mining company in the Pilbara, behind Rio Tinto and ahead of the Fortescue Metals Group.[4] As of 2010, BHP employs 8,000 people in its Pilbara operations.[3]

Overview

Iron ore mines in the Pilbara region.

The first iron ore mine in the Pilbara to develop was the Goldsworthy mine in 1965 and a railway line, the Goldsworthy railway, as well as port facilities at Finucane Island were constructed. On 1 June 1966, the first shipment of iron ore from the Pilbara left on board of the Harvey S. Mudd.[5]

Operations at Yandi commenced in 1991, with the first ore shipment taking place in 1992. The plant was upgraded from 1994 to 2003 to its current capacity of 41 million tonnes annually. The mine consists of 3 processing plants and two train loading facilities.[2]

Mining operations within BHP throughout the Pilbara were briefly suspended in September 2008 to focus on safety after two fatalities at the Yandi mine within 10 days of each other.[6]

References

  1. ↑ MINEDEX website: Yandi search result accessed: 6 December 2010
  2. 1 2 BHP Billiton Annual report 2010 BHP Billiton website, accessed: 6 December 2010
  3. 1 2 About BHP Billiton Iron Ore BHP Billiton website, accessed: 6 December 2010
  4. ↑ Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistic Digest 2009 Department of Mines and Petroleum website, accessed: 6 December 2010
  5. ↑ History of the Iron Ore Industry and the Pilbara BHP Billiton website, accessed: 6 December 2010
  6. ↑ BHP suspends WA iron works after second mining death The Australian, published: 5 September 2008, accessed: 12 November 2010


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