Orebody 25

The BHP Billiton's Orebody 25 open cut iron ore mine is located in the Western Australian Pilbara Region, 15 kilometres east of the mining town of Newman. Ownership of the operation is shared with Japanese companies Mitsui Iron and Itochu Minerals. It is operated by BHP Billiton who acquired the former operator HWE Mining from Leighton Holdings.

Orebody 25 Consists of Three Iron Ore Open Pits
Orebody 25 is actually a series of three open pits and part of the wider BHP Billiton Pilbara operations that consist of seven other iron ore mines in the same region. BHP Billiton also own 1,000 kilometres of railway that network the company's mines to take the mined ore to their two port facilities at Port Hedland to be exported to the company's worldwide customers.

BHP Billiton's Pilbara Operations Are the Second Largest in the Region
BHP Billiton employs around 13,000 people at their Pilbara operations which makes it the second largest iron ore mine in the region, behind only Rio Tinto . Fortesque Metals being the third largest operator in the area.

Orebody 25 Has a Processing Plant On-site.
Orebody 25 has its own processing plant on-site that consists of a screening plant and primary and secondary crusher. It is difficult to obtain individual throughput figures from BHP Billiton as the company only releases data that reports on it's whole Mt Newman operation as one unit. For the 2009/10 financial year this was reported as being 37 million tonnes of iron ore processed. The Mt Newman iron ore operation is considered as being one of the largest open cut iron ore mines in the world. Orebody 25 itself is located around 13 kilometres north east of the giant Mount Whaleback iron ore mine. Orebody 25 is often referred to in conjunction with Orebody 23, Area C and the Yandi iron ore operations, as together they account for almost 70 percent of all iron ore produced by BHP Billiton in the area. Orebody 25 and Orebody 23 alone contributing around 10 million tonnes of iron ore a year to the groups total output.

BHP Billiton Acquire Mining Contractor HWE Mining
Prior to 2011 Orebody 25 was being operated by mining contractor HWE Mining, a fully owned subsidiary of Leighton Holdings. However, in August of that year BHP Billiton acquired HWE completely, this included the mining personnel, mining equipment and all its related assets. It then adopted a policy of operating its own mines.

Mineworkers Housed in the Modern Town of Newman
Orebody 25 mine workers are housed at Newman when carrying out their shifts at the mine. Many live permanently in the town whereas others are flown in and out to complete their rosters. Newman is situated almost 1,200 kilometres from Perth and just nine kilometres north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Its road link to the outside world is via the Great Northern Highway. It is a modern town, having been constructed in the 1960s to house mine workers and their families. The homes are typical of the suburban style of home featured throughout Australian cities.
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