Christmas creek

The Christmas Creek Iron Mine is located 61 kilometres south west of Nullagine in the Chichester Range, a part of the mineral rich Pilbara Region of Western Australia. It is the second iron ore mine owned by Fortescue Metals Group operating in the Pilbara. The other is the Cloud Break Mine 50 kilometres to its west. The Christmas Creek Mine marks Fortescue as the third biggest iron ore producer in the Pilbara, the only miners with bigger operations being Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

Fortescue Metals Groups Fast Growth in the Pilbara

Fortescue Metals Group have had a dramatic rise in the mining industry since having its first ore shipment exported to China in mid 2008. The company acquired the Cloud Break and Christmas Creek tenements in 2003, three years later, in 2006, Fortescue commenced work on building it own port infrastructure at Port Hedland. Construction on their first open cut mine, Cloud Break, commenced in October the same year and two years later, in 2008, iron ore production started. Total production in its first full year of mining reached 28 million tonnes of iron ore.

First Iron Ore Production from Christmas Creek was Processed at the Cloud Break Mine

The Christmas Creek Open Cut Mine started transporting iron ore by haulage truck to the Cloud Break Mine for processing in mid 2009. A distance of 50 kilometres. Work started on its own processing facility at the Christmas Creek Mine site in November the same year. It was finally commissioned early in 2011. All Christmas Creek ore is now processed on site before it is taken by rail to Port Hedland for export. The first train load of iron ore to be sent along Fortescue's own private railway to the port, took place on April 5, 2008. The first train load of ore to go directly from Christmas Creek, all the way to Port Hedland, occurred in December 2010. The two mines are currently producing 55 million tonnes of iron ore a year, this is expected to increase to 95 million tonnes in 2013.

The First Railway of its Type Built in the Pilbara for 40 Years

The Fortescue railway that take the ore to the coast from the mines was the first railway line of its scale to be built in the Pilbara in more than 40 years. It is capable of carrying the heaviest loads in the world with the railway wagons having a 40 tonne axle load. Because of its load baring potential it has grabbed the attention of the mining industry throughout the world. Construction was completed in just nine months. The company has 11 ore trains that transport iron ore from the Christmas Creek Mine, Cloud Break Mine and the Solomon Mine when it starts production. Each train is capable of pulling 33,000 tonnes of iron ore and completing one trip each a day.

Macmahon Awarded Mining Contract at the Christmas Creek Mine

In January 2013 it was announced that Macmahon Holdings was awarded the contract to supply a range of services to the Christmas Creek Mine. These services include:

Macmahon hired 600 workers to help them carry out their contract. This is on top of the 500 already employed there. Work has also finished on a 1,600 bed workers village to accommodate the fly in fly out workers at the Christmas Creek Mine.

Chichester - Phase 2 : Time Lapse of the ore processing area construction