The proposal is to establish a new iron ore mining project at Yandicoogina (Marillana) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The proposal generally involves the mining of iron ore deposits at an initial production rate of about 2 million tonnes per year, with the potential to increase production to a rate of up to 5 million tonnes per year during a projected 20 year mine life. There is, however, further potential for operations to be expanded to a much larger project beyond the scope of the current proposal. This would require further environment impact assessment should such a proposal eventuate.
Initial mining operations would commence on an orebody known as Eastern Mesa 2 which has a relatively low waste to ore ratio by Pilbara standards. Ore would be extracted using conventional drill and blast techniques and trucked from the minesite to a semi-mobile crushing plant. Following crushing the ore would be conveyed to the rail load-out facility.
It is proposed to transport the ore from the minesite to the existing Newman to Port Hedland railway by constructing a 49 kilometre rail spur.
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