Mt pyrton project

The Mt Pyrton Project is located in the Hamersley Basin mining area of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Tom Price and 1,100 kilometres north of Perth. It contains the Caliwingina, Channel Iron Deposit (CID), that hosts 875 million tonnes of iron ore grading at 56.9 percent iron. This resource, along with other known iron ore deposits in the Mt Pryton Project area has increased Rio Tinto's iron ore assets by 3,000 million tonnes.

The Caliwingina discovery, that was made in 2008, has revealed an iron ore deposit of more than 30 kilometres in length, which is almost completely concealed with a gradient of four metres a kilometre, that is situated halfway between the company's Robe River and Yandicoogina mining operations. It is also conveniently placed just 15 kilometres from the Rio Tinto, privately owned, Pilbara railway and 150 kilometres from the company's ports at Cape Lambert and Dampier.

Rio Tinto Began Exploring for the Caliwingina CID Resource in 2002

Rio Tinto had originally carried out exploration seeking the Channel Iron Deposit in the southern area of Caliwingina with the use of an extensive reverse circulation drilling program backed up with geophysical techniques, during 2002 and 2003. This program delineated a six kilometres length of CID. A similar program was carried out during 2005 and 2006 in the northern part of the CID channel that extended to the wash out area within the Fortescue Valley. The rocks in this area that exist as rounded outcrops on the edge of the Fortescue River basin belong to the Lower Hamersley Group. The rocks that exist in the steeper hills behind the river basin are known as Upper Hamersley Group rocks.

The Mt Pyrton Project's Caliwingina Resource is the Third Largest CID System in the Pilbara

The Caliwingina resource that exists within the Mt Pyrton project area is now the third largest CID system to be found in the mineral rich Pilbara region of Western Australia. Yandicoogina is the largest and Bungaroo being the next largest. It is of a comparable size to the 1.6 billion tonne Robe River system that existed before mining began in the area. The iron content grades at Caliwingina are comparable to that found at the Yandicoogina deposit.

The Mt Pyrton project, which includes the Solomon and Serenity iron ore deposits, along with some smaller finds, is considerably boosted with the inclusion of the Caliwingina resource. Together they form a major new CID district that exists in the central Hamersley Ranges and despite exploration continuing, all indications point to the area hosting a CID resource in excess of three billion tonnes, with an overlaying lower grade detrital iron resource, of much the same size, which puts the Mt Pyrton project on par with other CID systems within the Hamersley Province.

Rio Tinto subsidiary, Pilbara Iron, manages the assets belonging to Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, which is also another fully owned Rio Tinto subsidiary. Rio Tinto announced, in 2004, that they were to merge the operations of Robe River and Hamersley under the name of Pilbara Iron. Pilbara Iron absorbed Pilbara Rail in 2005.