Koolan Island

Koolan Island is an island off the Kimberley 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.

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.

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. In 2007 Aztec Resources sold the mining rights to the island to Mount Gibson Iron, after significant cost overuns, subsequently calling the feasibility of the project into question.

Originally the project was intended to produce 6 million tonnes or iron ore per annum, however due to continuous changes to the open pit designs and substandard crushing infrastructure, Mount Gibson Iron have revised the production target to 3.1 million tonnes @ 63.4% Fe, per annum at peak production. This target may not be achieved until the 2010/11 Financial Year due to the fact that around 35 million tonnes of waste rock must be mined from Main & Mullet Pits before the ore can be reached. In the meantime this may place the operation under some degree of financial stress.

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, Mount Gibson Iron 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. [ [http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200604240833018572B Aztec Resources media release] ] The agreement aims to ensure that 3% of the 220 person workforce is filled by indigenous people by the eighth yearof 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. [cite web|url=http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1717951.htm|title=Iron ore supplier Aztec strikes deal with China|work=ABC News Online]

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

Footnotes

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.

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1136643.htm "Koolan Island"] transcript from "George Negus Tonight" 21 June 2004
* [http://www.intersuisse.com.au/upload/ausmine/Aztec%20Resources%20Profile.pdf Credit Suisse investors report] 11 March, 2005
* [http://au.biz.yahoo.com/060626/38/rwpk.html "Aztec Resources Commences Construction on Koolan Island Project"] from Yahoo Finance F 26 June, 2006