Western Australia For Everyone: Tom Price

Tom Price

Situated in the heart of iron ore mining country in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Tom Price is a mining town that houses workers of Hamersley Iron Pty. Ltd, which mines the iron ore deposits of nearby Mt. Tom Price.

Tom Price supports a fluctuating population of mine related workers, plus a growing Aboriginal population which is presently around 500 divided between the town of Tom Price and the communities of Wakathuni and Youngaleena.

The closest town to Tom Price is Paraburdoo, 80 km to the south. Located 747 metres above sea level, Tom Price is the second highest town in Western Australia after Newman.

Mine Tours

A 1.5 hour tour of Rio Tinto's open cut iron ore mine which takes visitors into the heart of the mine site operation. The tour includes viewing the Haul Truck workshop area, viewing working trucks, shovels and drills, the crushing and screening plants and the train load out area. Guides provide a detailed commentary and travel in air-conditioned coach or bus. Book through Tom Price Visitors Centre, Ph (08) 9188 1112.

Solomon Hub Mine

The Solomon Hub is located 120km west of the Chichester Hub. It comprises the Firetail mine and the Kings mine. More than three billion tonnes of resources have been identified at Solomon, providing Fortescue with a long term, low cost production strategy. Early earthworks commenced at Solomon Hub in late 2011. In December 2012, Fortescue opened the 129 kilometre Solomon Railway that connects Solomon to Fortescue’s mainline to Herb Elliott Port. The operation started loading at 16 trains per month, increasing to 55 trains per month at full production. This railway was the first large-scale railway development undertaken in the Pilbara in more than 40 years.

Herb Elliott Port is in Port Hedland. In August 2013. The port infrastructure features four shiploading berths and three shiploaders providing efficiency and flexibility for operations. There are 240 wagons per train, each carrying 137 tonnes of ore. Cars are tipped and their iron ore contents unloaded every 85 seconds. The iron ore is dumped onto an apron feeder and transported via a conveyor belt moving at 5.5 metres per second to one of the port’s three stackers. The stackers build the iron ore into 18 separate stockpiles, catering for various Fortescue and third party products.

Karijini National Park

For sheer rugged beauty and a diversity of gorges, waterfalls, rockpools and canyons, few areas of Australia come near this region. International tourists are unanimous in naming their visit to Karijini National Park as a highlight of their trip to Australia. Stretching for more than 400 km through the Pilbara region of Western Australia , the Hamersley Ranges contain many spectacular gorges have been carved by the waters of the Fortescue and other rivers. Karijini is less than 2 hours drive North from Newman along the sealed Great Northern Highway.

Python Pool

(331 km north) The Chichester Ranges in WA's Pilbara region are a series of low hills and mesas that dip gently into the Fortescue Valley to the south. Before climbing Mt. Herbert in the Chichester Range, the road from Roebourne to Tom Price passes by Python Pool, a perennial waterhole at the base of towering rocks and overhanging gum trees to the south-east of Mt. Herbert. A waterfall flows over the rocks during the wet season.

Millstream

(315 km north) An enchanting tropical oasis amongst the red dust of the Pilbara, on the road between the Hamersley Ranges and the coast. Thousands of birds flock to this delightful spot, where ferns, palms and rushes grow in abundance. Clear, soft water from an underground aquifer creates a lush freshwater swimming spot at Chinderwarriner Pool, with over 36 million litres of water produced daily. The adjacent Chichester Ranges contain sediment-capped basalt ranges. It has rolling hills, hummocks of spinifex, white barked snappy gums on the uplands, and pale coolabahs along the water course.

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Where is it?

1,564 km north of Perth, 300 km south of Karratha/Dampier, 360 km east of Onslow.

Barlee Range Nature Reserve

(180 km south-west): a virtually untouched region of deeply incised gorges, up to 100m deep, containing extensive permanent spring-fed streams, waterfalls and pools. The range extends through the Barlee Range wilderness area from north to south, while streams generally drain northwards to the Ashburton River. An important feature is Kookhabinna Gorge which contains deep pools of permanent water lying between steep walls.

History

The lifting of an embargo in 1961 on the export of iron ore from Australia (this embargo had been in place since just before WW2, when the Japanese were prevented from obtaining iron ore from Cockatoo and Koolan Islands in Yampi Sound) was an event which led to the mining of iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. As soon as the embargo was lifted, the Western Australian Government called for expressions of interest in mining a huge known deposit of iron ore at Mt Goldsworthy. This deposit was about 110 kms NE of Port Hedland and was estimated to contain 54 million tonnes of high grade (65%-68%) iron ore. Development of the Mt Goldsworthy deposit was awarded to a consortium of international and Australian mining companies.

Development began immediately, with the construction of new townships at Goldsworthy and Finucane Island at Port Hedland. A high-capacity, heavy-rail-loading, railway was constructed between Pt Hedland and Goldsworthy to take the ore to Port Hedland harbour. Port Hedland harbour was dredged extensively so it was able to take large ore-carrying ships. Bulk ship loading facilities were constructed. On 3 June, 1966, the first Goldsworthy iron ore was shipped on the Harvey S. Mudd, bound for Japan. This was the first shipment of iron ore to overseas customers, since the iron ore embargo was lifted.

As soon as the embargo was lifted, Con Zinc Rio Tinto of Australia (CRA) set about exploring for iron ore deposits in the Pilbara region. On one air-reconnaissance mission, two geologists from CRA noted the impressive iron-rich, dark red colours in the Hamersley Ranges. in February 1961, Thomas Moore Price, who was a leading raw materials expert and surveyor and employee of the Kaiser Steel Corp (Kaiser was in with CRA on the search for iron ore), was sent out to personally survey the area previously identified by geologists as iron-rich.

Tom Price's report was highly favourable, stating that the iron ore deposits were extensive, high grade, and warranted further investigation. The investigative survey commissioned by CRA, formally identified a deposit in excess of 1 BILLION tons of high grade iron ore. The story goes that Tom Price died at the age of 71 within hours of learning the results of the survey, and because of this, the deposit was named Mt. Tom Price in his honour.

In Oct 1962, Hamersley Iron P/L was formed as a joint venture between Kaiser Steel Corp and CRA. Kaiser Steel held 40% of the shares, and CRA held 60% of the shares in HI. The mining of Mt Tom Price commenced at breakneck speed, and within 19 months from the start of construction, the first ore was shipped. To enable this to happen, contractors had built the mine infrastructure, constructed a port at Dampier, laid a high capacity, heavy-rail-load railway line from Dampier to Tom Price, and constructed two towns (Dampier and Tom Price), all in that 19 month period! he first ore was shipped from Mt Tom Price in August 1966, with a load of 52,000 tons, loaded onto the Huon Maru at Dampier, for delivery to the Yawata Iron & Steel Co in Japan.

Construction of the Mt Tom Price - Dampier railway in 1965.