Fortescue plans next Pilbara mine

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue has revealed its next big Pilbara iron ore project to ring in the new year.

Fortescue on Thursday last week lodged plans for the 65-million-tonne-per-year Mindy South iron ore mine with the state’s Environmental Protection Authority.

Mindy South in 2022 was a 596-million-tonne inferred deposit with a 57.8 per cent ore grade south of Fortescue’s Chichester Hub near Newman.

The project sits next to Rio Tinto’s Rhodes Ridge deposit and close to the undeveloped Hope Downs 4 (Hancock Prospecting and Rio Tinto), BHP’s Yandicoogina, Mineral Resources’ Iron Valley, and Fortescue’s undeveloped Nyidinghu prospect.

The $3.2-billion Nyidinghu had been Fortescue’s priority but appears to have fallen back in the pecking order.

Nyidinghu has been on the cards for about 15 years and is halfway through the EPA’s assessment process, having been submitted in April 2023.

Fortescue intends to build a rail spur line which would service Mindy South and eventually Nyidinghu.

Alternative plans to run a rail corridor closer to the site were canned by Fortescue due to objections by the Nyiyaparli people, who wanted to protect important sites in the proposed mine’s namesake gorge.

Mindy South makes up about one-third of what Fortescue has labelled the Pilbara Other Hub, which contains 1.59 billion tonnes of inferred resources at an average grade of 57.6 per cent.

Fortescue is expecting a two-year build for Mindy South and a 13-year operational life.

Under plans submitted to the EPA Fortescue would use Mindy South as a processing hub for other deposits in the area.

Processing at Cloudbreak was considered unviable due to the expensive and timely haulage which would be needed.