NEWMAN

Newman, where BHP have the largest open cut iron ore mine in the world.  Not too much to see in this mining town so walked up to Radio Hill Lookout from the Information Centre car park where we stayed the night.

 Stan and Ella Hilditch in 1957 climbed a large hill (now know as Mt Whaleback) whilst searching for Manganese only to discover that beneath their feet was a massive deposit of iron ore.

This deplicts the raw iron ore at the bottom, the world above is where it is sent and it then comes back to Australia in all these different products.  At night lights flash the world.

Whew - very steep and concrete old steps with heaps of loose stones, so as I was crawling up with "shakey" legs, I said to Wayne "there's no way I'm going back down that way", so, 3 klms by sealed road via the mine, we got back to the van!!! (Not even a very nice sunset)

It is hard to capture the enormity of this mine!

9.30am  We are going on a tour of the BHP Billiton Iron Ore Mt Whaleback Mine.  WOW

Did I mention, Mt Whaleback is the largest single open-cut Iron Ore Mine in the world - currently 5.5km long and 2km wide.

This iron ore would weigh approx 30 tonne. (Wayne showing his maori tongue)

This tour was very well worth the time to do and we were served with fresh scones with jam and cream back at the Information Centre. 

The 200 Tonne Wabco Ore Truck was valved at $2.5 million in 1973.  It was sold to the Visitor Centre in 1992 for $1.

BHP Billiton Iron Ore is the longest privately-owned railroad in the Southern Hemisphere - 426 km from Newman to Port facilities in Port Hedland.  The average train measure 2.6km long, consisting of 4 locomotives, 248 Ore cars and 1 driver.  Each car holds approx. 130-138 tonnes of ore.