Koolan Island

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Koolan Island is an island off the north-west coast of Western Australia in the Buccaneer Archipelago. It is about 1,900 km north of Perth, and about 130 km north of Derby. It holds deposits of high grade iron ore.

1 BHP era
2 Mine reopening
3 Aircraft crash
4 Footnotes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] BHP era

BHP commenced open-pit mining operations on Koolan and neighbouring Cockatoo Island in the late 1940s and by 1963 had established substantial mining operations there. The Koolan Island mine closed in 1994 after BHP had extracted 68 million tonnes of high-grade haematite ore averaging 67% iron.

At its peak, Koolan Island had a population of 950 people and had a school, police station, recreation facilities and shops. It had the world's then-longest golf course hole — an 860 yards par 7 number 6 which doubled as the island's air strip.

Major rehabilitation of the island was undertaken since the mine closure, with buildings and exotic vegetation removed. Extensive replanting of native species has been undertaken.

[edit] Mine reopening

In June 2006, exploration company Aztec Resources, which holds exploration and mining licenses over the island and some of the adjoining mainland, announced the reopening of the mine which it claims as holding some of the richest and purest iron in the world, containing between 67% and 69% iron, with low contaminants in the form of silica, phosphorus, aluminium and sulphur. A forecast of 4 million tonnes of ore per annum is predicted to be mined once the operation proceeds into full production in 2008, with the 1st ship due to leave the island in March 2007. Mining on the island is presently carried out under an Alliance Agreement between subsidiary "Koolan Iron Ore" and contractor BGC.

The majority of the ore resources on Koolan Island are found within the Main Pit, however satellite pits are also presently being mined, namely at Mullet and Eastern pits. The design for Main Pit incorporates a continuous 270m footwall, dipping with the ore body. When mining operations cease at the end of the Mine Life in 12 years time the pit will be approximately 170m below sea level.

When BHP ceased mining operations on the island in 1993 they flooded the Main Pit to the ocean by blasting part of the hanging wall. This has meant that the pit has been filled with approximately 10 billion litres of sea water, with a significant marine eco-system forming within the bounds of the former working pit. Due to the dense nature of the marine fauna within the Main Pit, Koolan Iron Ore plan to utilise numerous substantial blasts within the water filled pit in order to extract all marine creatures before dewatering operations are commenced. A Seawall will then be built around the ocean side of the pit in order to keep the ocean out. The pit will subsequently be dewatered in order to allow the rich ore reserves to be mined once again.

Earlier, in April 2006, the company signed a co-existence agreement with the Dambimangari (Dambima-Ngardi) indigenous Australian traditional owners of the island.^[1] The agreement aims to ensure that 30% of the 220 person workforce is filled by indigenous people by the eighth year of operation.

A third island nearby, Irvine Island is also being considered for mining operations.

On 18 August 2006, Aztec announced that it had signed orders with the Chinese group CITIC for 1.5 million tonnes or ore from 2007.^[2]

[edit] Aircraft crash

On December 23 1984, a single engine Cessna 210 aircraft which had just taken off from the island en-route to Broome, struck power lines and somersaulted. 6 people were killed.

It appears the aircraft may have been overloaded with passengers and fuel at the time. The plane took off with the wind towards the batching plant rather than over the ocean and Submarine rock

[edit] Footnotes

^ Aztec Resources media release
^ Iron ore supplier Aztec strikes deal with China. ABC News Online.

[edit] References

A Job well done : the Koolan Island achievement. Perth, W.A. BHP Minerals, 1992. ISBN 0-86769-024-0
Biological inventory of Koolan Island, Western Australia. Part 1. Flora and vegetation. in Records of the Western Australian Museum, Vol. 17, no. 3 (1995), p. 237-248
Koolan Island - cave discovered containing (Pleistocene) Aboriginal archaeological material Iron ore chronicle, Vol. 234 (March 1989), p. 6.