Jack hills

The Jack Hills mine near Geraldton in Western Australia had only produced iron ore for five years before being placed on care and maintenance, while waiting for expansion approval, but during that time had produced over 7.4 million tonnes of premium graded iron ore lump and fines.

Jack Hills is Large Iron ore Mine of the Future Owned by Mitsubishi

The Jack Hills Mine is operated by Crosslands Resources Limited which began as a 50/50 joint venture with Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd and Murchison Metals Limited. The same joint venture partners had set up an infrastructure company, Oakajee Port and Rail (OPR). OPR has the responsibility of constructing a railway from the Jack Hills Mine to Oakajee, 25 kilometres from Geraldton, where it is to build a deep water port for exporting iron ore from the Mid West. However, it was announced in November 2011, that Murchison Metals Limited had agreed to sell its interests in both the Crosslands and the Oakajee Projects to Mitsubishi, a move that will make Mitsubishi the sole owner of the two projects.

Jack Hills Pilot Project Began in 2006

Crosslands starting mining the Jack Hills deposit as a pilot project in November 2006 with the first shipment of iron ore leaving the Geraldton port in February 2007. This stage one phase of the Jack Hills Mine ceased operations in February 2012. During its five years of operation the mine had produced 1.8 million tonnes of iron ore a year with grades of over 61 percent iron for fines and 64 percent iron for lump ore.

The iron ore mined at the Jack Hills Mine during this period was crushed and screened on site before being loaded onto triple road trains to take it the 640 kilometres to the port at Geraldton. The ore was then loaded onto ships to take it to the company's customers in Japan, Korea and China.

Jack Hills Mine Expansion Project Will Constitute Stage Two

The Jack Hills Expansion Project (JHEP) that is to follow stage one, that has recently been completed, will redevelop and expand the current mining operation including the processing facilities to get the most benefit in the recovery of iron ore at the site. This will include the following:

ï A new all weather airstrip

ï Accommodation village

ï Communication network

ï A permanent and reliable water supply (underground bore water) and water treatment plan

ï A gas fired power station to supply adequate power

ï Train loading and stockpiling facilities

ï A tailings disposal and mine waste facility

ï A multi-stage mill with crushing, magnetic, gravity and other processing facilities

ï A beneficiation plant capable of producing pellet and sinter feedrnproducts.

ï A DSO facility for the production of fines and lump iron orernproducts

ï A large scale open pit mining operation with various faces able to produce ore suitable for blending

The upgraded Jack Hills Mine will be capable of producing in excess of 20 million tonnes of iron ore annually for the next 39 years from a resource of 3.8 billion tonnes.

Railway and Port Facilities are Part of the Jack Hills Expansion Plans

In conjunction with the expansion of the Jack Hills project it is also necessary to construct around 500 kilometres of new railway line and a large deep water port at Oakajee near Geraldton. The railway will need to be of heavy haul standard to replace the heavy haulage trucks that have been, up until now, using regional roads. The new multi-million dollar port to be built at Oakajee will be designed to handle 45 million tonnes of bulk export a year and able to accommodate ships weighing 180,000 tonnes.

Zircon deposits in the Jack Hills area have been dated to be in excess of four billion years old. This is the oldest dated earth originating material to ever be discovered.