A “model of China-Australia economic and trade cooperation” and new generator in “the engine room of the nation’s economy” were two of the tags attached to the US$2 billion Western Range iron ore mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Operator Rio Tinto says the 25 million tonnes a year mine, a joint venture with China’s Baowu, is also a model of another kind: “Western Range represents our first co-designed mine with traditional [land] owners.”
The Western Range deposits, west of the town of Paraburdoo in the central Pilbara region, sit within a 11,920 square kilometre area defined as Yinhawangka Country under Australia’s Native Title Act. “Significant sites identified by the Yinhawangka traditional owners are protected,” Rio Tinto says.
The mining major, which owns 54% of Western Range and Baowu the balance, says the new mine was finished on time and budget. Rio Tinto has invested about $8.5 billion in the Pilbara since 2022 and has a circa-$13 billion pipeline of further projects in its 2025-2027 planning horizon.
“Western Range is one of a tranche of replacement projects, with total annual capacity of about 130 million tonnes per annum, that underpin Rio Tinto’s ongoing commitment to the Pilbara,” it said.
The company is finalising a pre-feasibility study on Rhodes Ridge – “the best undeveloped project in the Pilbara” – which could add 40Mtpa of new capacity in the early-2030s.
Western Range is joined to existing Paraburdoo ore processing and other infrastructure by a 18km conveyor line.
Official opening attendees included exiting Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tinto Iron Ore boss Simon Trott, Australia’s federal resources minister Madeleine King, WA premier Roger Cook, Baowu Group chair Hu Wangming, Baowu Resources chair Shi Bing and Yinhawangka Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) chair Robyn Hayden.
“The Pilbara is the engine room of the nation’s economy,” King said.
“Projects like Western Range will keep that engine running for future generations of Australians.”
Hayden said the YAC acknowledged work Rio Tinto had done to “change how they engage with us, and the steps they’ve taken to build a stronger, more honest partnership”.
Rio Tinto’s management pledged to reform the company’s business practices after it mined ancient Aboriginal rock shelters at Juukan Gorge, about 60km north-west of Tom Price, in 2020. That area is in the traditional lands of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people. Destruction of the culturally significant caves cost Rio Tinto’s then CEO and chair their jobs.
“The opening of the Western Range mine represents a shift in how our heritage is being recognised and respected,” Hayden said, adding the change was a “meaningful beginning”.
“We stand ready to walk forward together,” she said.
Rio Tinto and Chinese steel producer Baowu have been investing together in Pilbara iron ore production for more than 20 years.
Wangming said Western Range and the broader partnership was a “model of China-Australia economic and trade cooperation”.
