Article by Kelsie Tibben, courtesy of Mining Safe to Work.
Gina Rinehart’s Atlas Iron has been given the green light to build a new iron ore mine in Western Australia, but what will it mean for mining jobs?
The Federal Government recently gave final approval for the McPhee Creek mine, which will be located around 100km north of Rinehart’s Roy Hill and 30km north of Nullagine.
The mine was expected to produce its first ore in 2023, but various environmental and regulatory hurdles resulted in Atlas Iron pushing the milestone to the 2025–26 financial year (FY26).
Despite the set-back, the mine is now gearing up for production and is expected to bring up to 800 new jobs to the Pilbara region.
Around 500 new jobs will be created during the mine’s construction phase, and up to 300 permanent roles will be on offer once the mine is operational.
“The McPhee project has a very small footprint, only 1.5 per cent of Australia’s current iron ore exports, and will use existing processing, rail and port infrastructure,” Hancock Prospecting chief executive of projects Sanjiv Manchanda said.
“Yet (it) was referred for a long approval process in early 2021 and has experienced a multitude of challenges from changes to heritage legislation, and changes to federal environment guidelines.”
The $600 million project has now received final Part V works approval under the Environmental Protection Act 1986, after Atlas Iron submitted its application almost two years ago.
“Our staff, Mrs Rinehart and I are very pleased that after long and sustained dialogues at all levels we have achieved this important milestone,” Manchanda said.
McPhee, which has an approximate 15-year mine life, is expected to have a production rate between 9.5–9.7 million tonnes of iron ore per annum.
Primary crushed ore will be hauled via road train from McPhee to Roy Hill for processing. It will then be transported to the port for shipping.
Mineral Resources’ CSI Services is set to supply and operate a 10-million-tonne-per-year primary crushing plant, fed by Atlas Iron via dump trucks or front-end loaders, with product to be stockpiled for reclaim and haulage by Atlas Iron.
