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Australia

Onslow (Ashburton) Mine

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Australia

Onslow (Ashburton) Mine

Location: 125 km SE from Onslow, Western Australia, Australia

Regional Office:

20 Walters Drive
Osborne Park
Western Australia, Australia
6017

Contacts:

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Iron Ore
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotOnslow Iron Project (formerly known as the Ashburton project) will be one of the largest iron ore developments undertaken in Western Australia.

On May 21, 2024, Mineral Resources Limited announced that its Onslow Iron project has delivered first ore on ship. The project will ramp up to nameplate capacity of 35 million tonnes annually by June 2025.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Aquila Resources Pty Ltd 30 % Indirect
AMCI (IO) Pty Ltd. 30 % Indirect
Mineral Resources Ltd. (operator) 40 % Indirect
Ownership Tree
The Onslow Iron Project is owned through an unincorporated joint venture between Mineral Resources (MinRes), who will manage the project, Baowu, AMCI and POSCO.

On August 29, 2022, the Red Hill Iron Joint Venture (RHIOJV) parties have made an unconditional Final Investment Decision to develop the RHIOJV iron ore assets as part of MinRes’ Ashburton Hub Development - Onslow Iron Project and have executed a Binding Project Development Term Sheet. The RHIOJV is currently held 40% by MinRes and 60% by API Management Pty Ltd (APIM) on behalf of the parties to the Australia Premium Iron Joint Venture (APIJV), Aquila Steel Pty Ltd and AMCI (IO) Pty Ltd.

The APIJV is held 50-50 by Aquila Steel Pty Ltd (50%) and AMCI (IO) Pty Ltd (50%). Aquila Steel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aquila Resources Pty Ltd which is owned 85% by Baosteel and 15% by MRL, while AMCI (IO) is owned 51% by AMCI and 49% by POSCO.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Channel Iron (CID)

Summary:

The Onslow Iron Project is located 150 km east of Onslow in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia. Onslow Iron will be one of the largest iron ore developments undertaken in Western Australia.

Stage 1 of the Onslow Iron Project will consist of the Red Hill Iron Ore Joint Venture (RHIOJV) tenements which host Mineral Resources of 820Mt and 537Mt in Ore Reserves.

RHIOJV is an integral part of West Pilbara Iron Ore Project.

The West Pilbara Iron Ore Project (WPIOP) mineral resource is predominately comprised of hematitic and goethitic Channel Iron Deposit (CID) mineralisation. Deposits occur as partly buried palaeochannels, originating from ancient river systems draining away from the Hamersley Ranges. These ancient river systems were filled with iron rich material which cemented together to form an iron-rich deposit resistant to erosion. Most of the WPIOP deposits are mesaform CID’s (Type I) shaped due to the weathering and erosion of the surrounding basement rocks therefore exposing the palaeochannel deposits over time. Two of the CID deposits, Buckland Hills and Red Hill Creek, occur in the upper parts of the palaeochannel systems they occupy and are valley constrained deposits (Type II). Distance from source, iron material type, ancient river setting and current conditions, including exposure to water, determine the grade of the CID.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. Annual (Projected)
Iron Mt 30
All production numbers are expressed as ore.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
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Total WorkforceYear
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Aerial view:

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