The Iron Baron mining area (IBMA) lies at the northern end of the Middleback Ranges (MBR). The local geology in the vicinity of the IMBA, as described in SIMEC Mining (2015a) is as follows:

Hematite in the MBR occurs as stratabound Palaeoproterozoic deposits of the Lower Middleback Iron Formation (LMIF), which is part of the Hutchison Group. The Hutchison Group forms part of the Cleve Subdomain of the Gawler Craton, and lies on its western edge. The Cleve Subdomain comprises tightly folded, high-grade metamorphic rocks that are mainly derived from marine shelf sediments and mafic and acidic volcanics (Parker 2012). The Hutchison Group in the MBR is composed of the Warrow Quartzite and the Middleback Subgroup, although the Warrow Quartzite is not identified at all locations. The Middleback Subgroup comprises the Katunga Dolomite, the LMIF, the Cook Gap Schist and the Upper Middleback Iron Formation (UMIF). The LMIF hosts the Middleback Ranges’ hematite deposits.

MBR iron ores formed through supergene enrichment; a process which selectively dissolved waste minerals and replaced them with iron ore mineralisation. Preferential enrichment occurred in carbonate facies iron formation, dolomitic marble and, to a lesser degree, silicate facies iron formation. The silicates were much less soluble than the carbonates, and resulted in patchy mineralisation in the silicate iron facies (Yeates 1990). Magnetite was recrystallised and remobilised during a period of me ........

Operations within the Iron Baron Mining Area (IBMA) in 2020 included hematite mining in the Iron Queen, Warrior and Cavalier pits, crushing, screening, ore beneficiation, train loading and tailings deposition in the South Prince pit.

This section provides a general summary of mining activities within the IBMA that are similar across each of the different mining areas that make up the IBMA e.g. Central IBMA, Iron Cavalier, Iron Queen, Iron Sultan, BSA mining area, Iron Warrior and Scree deposits.

Mining Methods
Mining at the IBMA, with the exception of free-dig scree ore mining, is a traditional open pit hard rock mining operation using an interrupted drill, blast, load and haul cycle to remove overburden (waste rock) and expose and haul ore for crushing, screening and processing, into a primary lump and fines product for export.

Pit design is a conventional layout of angled batters (between 50º to 60º) and flat berms (between 8 to 12 m in width). The bench height varies from 6 m to 8 m and the height between berms varies from between 12 to 24 m. The batter angle, berm width and the height between berms give the overall slope angle (from pit crest to pit toe). This angle is critical to successful mining and is determined by rigorous geotechnical engineering considerations.

Ramps for pits and WRDs will generally have a gradient of no more than 1:10.

The general shape of a pit, and whether there are any stages (i.e ........

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