Robe River Iron Associates’ (Rio Tinto 53%) US$450m West Angelas mine was formally opened at the weekend. The decision to develop the West Angelas ore deposits – by means of a new mine and processing plant, together with the construction of a new railway and expanded port facilities at Cape Lambert – was made by the Robe joint venture participants in March 1998.
West Angelas is the Pilbara’s newest iron ore mine. It contains an estimated 440mt of marra mamba reserves, regarded as the next generation of Australia iron ore. This is the first marra mamba ore marketed as a stand-alone product.
The West Angelas operation comprises an open pit mine, ore processing plant producing lump and fines ore, stockpiles, reclaimers and train loading facilities. It is located 110km west of Newman in the East Pilbara region of WA. From the mine, ore is railed 330km to Robe’s port facilities at Cape Lambert, where it is stockpiled before loading onto vessels. The ore is transported by the Pilbara Rail Company, an unincorporated joint venture between Robe River and Rio Tinto, which operates and maintains all rail assets of Robe River and Hamersley Iron (a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto).
Capacity at Cape Lambert has been expanded to 50mtpa to handle the West Angelas products, through a wharf extension and the addition of a second ship-loader. Operational flexibility has also been boosted as the ship-loaders can be configured to load either one or two vessels simultaneously.
Ore production at West Angelas began in April 2002. Trial shipments were made to selected customers in May, and commercial shipments began in July. The mine will produce at an initial rate of 7mtpa, rising to approximately 20mtpa by 2006, in line with customer demand. The current permanent workforce is 110 people.
An agreement to share rail infrastructure with Hamersley Iron was reached between the Robe River participants and Rio Tinto in mid 2001. This agreement enabled the West Angelas development to use Hamersley Iron’s existing rail infrastructure and resulted in capital expenditure savings of approximately $220m. A 62km rail spur now connects West Angelas to the main rail line of Hamersley Iron. The rail networks of Hamersley Iron and Robe River were connected where the two lines previously crossed, as part of the revised West Angelas development plan. This connection enables uninterrupted railing of ore from the mine to the Cape Lambert facilities.