Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
|
Mine Life | 20 years (as of Jan 1, 2015) |
The Solomon Hub in the Hamersley Ranges is located 60 kilometres north of Tom Price and 120km to the west of Fortescue’s Chichester Hub. It comprises the Firetail and Kings Valley mines which together have production capacity of 70 million tonnes per annum. |
Latest News | Fortescue gains approval for Queens Valley development May 22, 2019 |
Summary:
The Solomon Hub project mining areas and rail corridor are located on unallocated Crown Land, Native Title claim areas and active pastoral leases (Hamersley, Mt. Florence, Hooley and Mulga Downs). The rail corridor passes through Yandeyarra Aboriginal Reserve to the west of the Great Northern Highway.
The Solomon Hub is comprised of three main sites known as Solomon East, Serenity and the newly discovered Mt MacLeod. Within the Solomon East area, there are two principal areas known as Firetail, and the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens (collectively, the “Kings Project”) that are expected to be developed initially, and a smaller prospective resource area referred to as Sheila Valley.
Throughout the Hamersley Province the Brockman Iron Formation hosts the majority of bedded mineralization, and it is host to some of the largest iron ore mines in the world (Mount Whaleback, Tom Price and Paraburdoo). Geographically, the Firetail deposit is split into two “limbs” of an irregular “V” shape with each limb approximately 7 kilometers in length. Thickness of mineralization units averages around 20 meters, but can extend up to 60 meters in places.
Kings Project—The Kings Project area occupies the majority of the Solomon region, and is 35 kilometers in total length, running in a general east-west direction.
Summary:
Mining occurs at multiple, spatially separate pits, each working multiple faces simultaneously, and hydraulic excavators are employed to dig the material from working mine faces. After the overburden is removed, the iron ore and internal waste are extracted. The excavators load the material into haul trucks for transport to either waste or ore dumping locations, as appropriate, located adjacent to the mine pits in the early years, and into mined-out areas of the pits in later years.
Summary:
The mined ROM ore is transported to elevated pads (ROM pads) for tipping into a ROM feed bin at a number of separate primary crushing hubs. Two primary crushing hubs, with one for the Firetail Project (for Brockman ore) and one for the Kings Project (with the one for the Kings project comprising two crushing streams for CID and DID ore, and for the Firetail project comprising a single stream for BID ore). The primary crusher system consists of a feed hopper, apron feeder, primary sizer, secondary sizer and product conveyors. The ROM ore is blended at the crushing hubs to ensure a consistent mix of ore in order to achieve the required blend and contaminant levels. In some cases, stockpiles of ROM ore are employed to further enhance the degrees of blending.
The OPFs are designed to produce a fines product only and would be comprised of a separate screen house with scrubbers and screens linked by conveyors to a crushing house, and a desand plant. The plants are fed by overland conveyors connected to primary crushing hubs. Low grade material is delivered to the desanding unit via a series of screens.
Combined production numbers are reported under
FMG Operation
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2016 | 2015 |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 0.8 | 1.7 |
Annual mining capacity
| | 70 Mt of ore |
Reserves at December 31, 2018:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven
|
95 Mt
|
Iron
|
56 %
|
Probable
|
565 Mt
|
Iron
|
57.4 %
|
Proven & Probable
|
660 Mt
|
Iron
|
57.2 %
|
Measured
|
160 Mt
|
Iron
|
55 %
|
Indicated
|
1,089 Mt
|
Iron
|
55.7 %
|
Inferred
|
802 Mt
|
Iron
|
55.4 %
|
Heavy Mobile Equipment as of October 29, 2018:
HME Type | Quantity |
Truck (haul)
|
70
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
Document | Year |
...................................
|
2018
|
...................................
|
2017
|
Annual Report
|
2015
|
Other
|
2011
|
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