Overview
| Stage | Production |
| Mine Type | Open Pit |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Surface miner
- Strip mining (roll-over)
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
|
| Mine Life | 20 years (as of Jan 1, 2021) |
As one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore, Fortescue’s wholly owned and integrated operations in the Pilbara include the Chichester, Solomon and Western mining hubs. The Chichester Hub includes the Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek mines. The Solomon Hub comprises the Firetail, Kings Valley and Queens Valley mines. Western Hub is now home to the Eliwana mine. |
Source:
p. 26
Fortescue’s wholly owned and integrated operations in the Pilbara include the Chichester, Solomon and Western mining hubs.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Banded iron formation
- Channel Iron (CID)
- Detrital Iron (DID)
- Bedded Iron (BID)
Summary:
The Cloudbreak, Christmas Creek and Kutayi deposits lie within the Chichester Ranges, in northern Western Australia. Iron mineralisation is hosted by the Nammuldi Member which is the lowest member of the late Archaean aged Marra Mamba Iron Formation (MMIF). The Nammuldi Member is characterised by extensive, thick and podded iron rich bands, separated by equally extensive units of siliceous and carbonate rich chert and shale. The Nammuldi Member in the Chichester Range is interpreted to be up to 60 metres in true thickness. Underlying the Nammuldi Member rocks are black shales and volcanic rocks belonging to the Jeerinah Formation. Extended periods of tectonic activity have variably folded and faulted these rocks, together with weak metamorphism. Subsequent erosion and hardcapping or lateritic processes have altered these rocks, and present outcrop of Nammuldi Member represents a ridge of lowlying hills (relief up to 30 metres) throughout the prospect areas. These ridges are recognised as the Chichester Ranges.
Iron mineralisation characteristically comprises hematite, goethite and ocherous goethite, with variable degrees of alteration between these minerals. The main gangue minerals are kaolinite, quartz and gibbsite, with minor amounts of carbonates, either calcite or dolomite.
Iron is enriched in the parent BIF (iron layers banded with cherts and lesser carbonates) by processes of supergene and/or hypogene enrichment. In both processes, the original i ........
Mining Methods
- Surface miner
- Strip mining (roll-over)
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
Summary:
Chichester Hub Operation
Chichester Hub in the Chichester Ranges includes the Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek mines.
At Cloudbreak the Bigge development entered production in Q3 FY22. Bigge expands Cloudbreak further west and contributes low strip ratio material which supports the overall Fortescue product strategy.
Cloudbreak
The mining model is based on strip mining. Mining at Cloudbreak will continue to be carried out as open pit strip mining.
The pits are developed progressively, where a starter pit is opened (with overburden from the starter pit placed in a small overburden stockpile). As the mining face progresses, the open pit is progressively backfilled and rehabilitated.
The majority of the ore will be mined using surface miners. Surface miners can cutto an accuracy of 0.1 m and can extract ore without the need for drilling, blasting, or primary crushers to crush ore. Ore is loaded from the surface miner into trucks for transfer to the OPF.
Christmas Creek
Drill and blast
Drilling and blasting is used to allow areas of hard rock overburden to be removed. Drilling and blasting is undertaken in accordance with current operational procedures, which generally incorporate the following steps:
1. A series of holes are drilled into the rock.
2. The holes are filled with explosives and detonated.
3. The rock breaks up or collapses after detonation and the rock rubble is then removed.
Flow Sheet:
Chichester Hub Operation
Cloudbreak
Crushing/sizing Facilities
The crushing and sizing facilities consist of a series of crushers designed to handle standard sized ore and large ROM oversize rocks generated in drill and blast operations, pit floor windrow cleanup and pit wall batter scraping at the mine. The crushing and sizing process will size material to less than 250 – 300 mm such that it can be transported by conveyor to the OPF.
Christmas Creek
Remote Crushing
An RCH currently operates approximately 6.5 km east of the main processing facilities at Christmas Creek. The RCH sizes the mined material to prepare it for processing in the OPF (ore processing facilities). The RCH consists of:
- ROM bin
- mineral sizer
- gyratory crusher
- crushed ore vault.
Once material has been crushed, it is transported to OPF2 by an overland conveyor.
In 2021 the two C160 Metso jaw crushers in this building were installed second-hand during the construction of the Cloudbreak mine and were nearing their end of life. This project involved removing the old crushers and replacing them with two new C160 jaw crushers.
Solomon Hub Operation
Crushing will involve combinations of primary, secondary and tertiary crushing.
Western Hub (Eliwana)
Components of the OPF (screens, crushers (jaw/cone/mills), conveyors:
- ROM Bin (BN101)
- Apron feeder (AF101)
- Primary crusher (Gyratory crusher, CRG101)
- Feed = -1,500mm
- Product = -250mm
- Hybrid feeders (Low profile feeders, BF221 & BF211)
- Scalping screens (SN211 & SN221)
- Secondary crushers (Sizer crushers, SZ211 & SZ221)
- Feed = -250mm
- Product = -150mm
- Belt feeders (BF311, BF321, & BF331)
- Tertiary Crushers (Cone crushers, CRC311, CRC 321, & CRC331)
- Feed = -150mm
- Product = -31.5mm
- Product screens (SN311, SN321, & SN331)
- Vibrating pan feeders (VF311, VF321, VF322, & VF331)
- Plant Conveyors (CV211, CV221, CV212, CV222, CV311, CV321, CV331, CV701 & CV702)
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Reserves at June 30, 2022:
Chichester Hub Mineral Resources are quoted above a cut-off of 53.5% Fe, Solomon Hub and Western Hub Mineral Resources are quoted above a cut-off grade of 51.5% Fe.
Ore Reserve: Cloudbreak 53.0% Cut-Off Grade (%Fe), Christmas Creek 53.0% Cut-Off Grade (%Fe), Firetail 51.5% Cut-Off Grade (%Fe), Kings 52.5% Cut-Off Grade (%Fe), Queens 53.5% Cut-Off Grade (%Fe), Eliwana 56.0% Cut-Off Grade (%Fe).
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
|
Proven
|
1,018 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
57.6 %
|
|
Probable
|
969 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
57.2 %
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,986 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
57.4 %
|
|
Measured
|
1,659 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
56.8 %
|
|
Indicated
|
1,832 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
55.9 %
|
|
Inferred
|
1,676 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
56 %
|
|
Total Resource
|
5,166 Mt
|
Iron (hematite)
|
56.2 %
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| | Commodity | Units | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|
C1 cash costs
|
Iron Ore
|
USD
|
...... &nbs
|
......
|
......
|
......
|
......
|
12.4 / wmt
|
12.8 / wmt
|
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Financials:
| | Units | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|
Capital expenditures (planned)
|
M USD
| ...... | | | | |
|
|
|
Capital expenditures
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
890
|
716
|
|
Revenue
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
6,887
|
8,447
|
|
Operating Income
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | | |
|
|
|
Gross profit
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
1,957
|
3,559
|
|
Pre-tax Income
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
1,245
|
2,967
|
|
After-tax Income
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
878
|
2,093
|
|
EBITDA
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
3,182
|
4,744
|
|
Operating Cash Flow
|
M USD
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
1,601
|
4,256
|
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Heavy Mobile Equipment as of June 30, 2022:
| HME Type | Model | Quantity |
|
Truck (haul)
|
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Mine Management:
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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