The Pilbara's economy is dominated by mining exports and petroleum export industries. [ 32 ]
Iron ore
Most of Australia 's iron ore is mined in the Pilbara, with mines mostly centred around Tom Price and Newman . The iron ore industry employs 9000 people from the Pilbara area. The Pilbara also has one of the world's major manganese mines, Woodie Woodie, situated 400 kilometres (250 mi) southeast of Port Hedland.
Iron ore reserves were first discovered by Lang Hancock , and considerable portions of the Pilbara region are still claimed by his daughter Gina Rinehart and the family company Hancock Prospecting continues to gain from its interests in the region - as well as commencing its own mine workings. Blue asbestos was first mined in Wittenoom Gorge in 1943. [ 12 ]
In the 1960s, it was reportedly called "one of the most massive ore bodies in the world" by Thomas Price, then vice president of US-based steel company Kaiser Steel. Geoscience Australia calculated that the country's "economic demonstrated resources" of iron amounted to 24 gigatonnes, or 24 billion tonnes. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, as of 2010, that resource is being used up at a rate of 324 million tonnes a year, with rates expected to increase over coming years. Experts Dr Gavin Mudd (Monash University) and Jonathon Law (CSIRO) expect it to be gone within 30 to 50 years (Mudd) and 56 years (Law). [ 33 ]
As of 2010, active iron ore mines in the Pilbara are:
- BHP Billiton
- Fortescue Metals Group
- Rio Tinto
- Atlas Iron
- Moly Mines
- Spinifex Ridge ( molybdenum , copper , iron ore ) [ 34 ]
Agriculture
The region also has a number of cattle-grazing stations, and a substantial tourist sector, with popular natural attractions including the Karijini and Millstream-Chichester national parks, the Dampier Archipelago and the Ningaloo Reef .
Transport
The first railway in the Pilbara region was the narrow-gauge Marble Bar Railway between Port Hedland and Marble Bar . The Marble Bar Railway opened in July 1911 and closed in October 1951. The Roebourne-Cossack Tramway opened in 1897 and many industrial railways have been built to serve the mines. [ 35 ]
Currently four heavy-duty railways are associated with the various iron-ore mines, with a fifth line proposed to serve the Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. mines. The railways are all standard gauge and are built to the heaviest North American standards. Between 2008 and 2012, Rio Tinto proposes to convert to driverless trains on its railways. [ 36 ] An additional 300 km line is planned from the Roy Hill mine to a port at Boodarie, near Port Hedland. [ 37 ]
The ports of the Pilbara are:
- Port Hedland
- Nelson Point and Finucane Island (operated by BHP Billiton )
- Herb Elliott Port (operated by the Fortescue Metals Group )
- Dampier (operated by Rio Tinto )
- Cape Lambert (operated by Rio Tinto)
Ecology
The dominant flora of the Pilbara is acacia trees and shrubs and drought-resistant Triodia spinifex grasses. Several species of acacia (wattle) trees are endemic to the Pilbara and are the focus of conservation programs along with wildflowers and other local specialities.
The Pilbara is home to a wide variety of endemic species adapted to this tough environment, including dozens of species of subterranean fauna (which include stygofauna and troglofauna ); microscopic invertebrates which live underground in the caves, vugs and groundwater aquifers of the region. The Pilbara olive python, the Western Pebble-mound Mouse , and the Pilbara Ningaui of the Hamersley Range are among the many species of animals within the fragile ecosystems of this desert ecoregion. Birds include the Australian Hobby , Nankeen kestrel , Spotted Harrier , Mulga Parrot ,and budgerigars .
Wildlife has been damaged by the extraction of iron, natural gas and asbestos but the protection of culturally and environmentally sensitive areas of the Pilbara is now advanced by the delineation of several protected areas including the Millstream-Chichester and the Karijini National Parks .
See also
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