Mulga downs

The Mulga Downs iron ore deposit is located on the Mulga Downs property, 167 kilometres south west of Marble Bar and 96 kilometres north east of Tom Price in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The Mulga Downs property consists of 384,451 hectares that cover the Chichester Range and parts of the Fortescue River floodplain. The Cloudbreak iron ore mine that is operated by Fortescue Metals Group is located within the Mulga Downs property boundary.

Mulga Downs Mine to be Developed at Murray Hill

In 2013, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, sought approval from the Western Australian Government's Department of the Environment, to construct an iron ore open cut mine at Murray Hill, near the northern boundary of the property, approximately 50 kilometres north of Wittenoom and 3.5 kilometres from the property homestead. The mine that was planned would require the construction of a 2.5 kilometre long pit that would produce up to five million tonnes of Direct Shipping Iron Ore a year. The mining operation was to take place above the water table therefore it would not require any dewatering processing. The project would also include the building of a waste dump, accommodation for the mine workers, a crushing and a screening plant and associated infrastructure. The ore mined at Mulga Downs was to be trucked along the Great Northern Highway to the Roy Hill mine where it would then be taken by rail to Port Hedland for exporting to Asian countries, particularly China.

Mulga Downs to be Hancock Prospecting First Fully Owned Iron Ore Mine

The Mulga Downs iron ore project would become the only iron ore mine in Australia that would be fully owned and operated by Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, as its major iron ore mine, at Roy Hill, is a Joint Venture operation that has a 30 percent shareholding in the control of a consortium of Asian trading houses and steel makers, and the company's Hope Downs mine, although being 50 percent owned by Hancock Prospecting, is operated by Rio Tinto.

Adverse Circumstances Have Held up Mulga Downs Start up Date

The Mulga Downs mine, that was planned to have a life of mine of five years, was to start production in 2015, but continuing low iron ore prices and internal family challenges have resulted in the plans being delayed until more favourable circumstances prevail.

Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd has been associated with the Pilbara region of Western Australia since its inception in November, 1955. It is an Australian company that carries on the Lang Hancock tradition of developing the mineral rich Pilbara, as well as other areas of Australia.

The company founder, Lang Hancock, discovered iron ore in the Pilbara in 1952 and since that time a progression of ten world class iron ore mines have been developed in the area, the first being Tom Price in 1966. The first iron ore mine to be developed by Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd was the Hope Downs mine in 2007 in which the company has a 50 percent Joint Venture agreement with Rio Tinto Iron Ore. A second mine, the Hope Downs 1 South mine began production in late 2008. The Hope Downs developments were particularly significant in that, for the first time, Hancock Prospecting, retained a significant shareholding in some of its own world class iron ore discoveries.