In order to maintain high-grade iron ore production capacity in Pilbara, Western Australia, Rio Tinto has recently approved an investment of $749 million for the production and operation of its greater Tom Price region.
Rio Tinto's mining areas in Tom Price's regional production center include Tom Price mine, WTS phase I and phase II projects. Rio Tinto started developing the WTS phase II project in 2014.
The investment in the WTS phase II project will promote the mining of existing and new deposits, as well as the construction of a new crusher and a 13 km long conveyor belt. WTS phase II project is located in Pilbara area, Western Australia, 35 km northwest of tomprice mining area. The project's iron ore will eventually be processed in the tomprice mine and loaded into the railway system.
Compared with road transportation, the new conveyor belt will reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the mining area by 3.5%. Rio Tinto will continue to evaluate emission reduction plans, including the application of renewable energy. The project is expected to start construction in the first quarter of 2020 and start production in 2021, but the actual situation will depend on the progress of obtaining final approval from the government. The high-quality Brookman iron ore will support Rio Tinto's flagship product, the Pilbara hybrid mine (PB), which is popular in the Chinese market. The project has a capital investment of about $25 per ton of capacity. This investment has been included in Rio Tinto's guiding objective of alternative capacity capital investment in Pilbara from 2020 to 2022.
The investment also includes the installation of an autonomous haulage system for the transport fleet of the WTS phase II Mine to enable driverless automatic transport at the WTS phase II Mine from 2021. In recent years, Rio Tinto has successively deployed automatic transportation system in Pilbara mining area, which has brought significant safety benefits and reduced costs while improving productivity.
It is reported that about 50% of Rio Tinto's transport trucks will be automated by the end of this year. At the same time, Rio Tinto is also assessing the feasibility of expanding its fleet of automated transport vehicles in the next few years.
Chris Salisbury, Rio's chief executive in charge of iron ore business, said: "as we continue to improve the production and operation performance of the mining area, our iron ore business will continue to achieve industry-leading profit margin. The significant investment in Tom Price's regional production and operation center will continue to provide us with high-quality and low-cost options and lay a solid foundation for the future of Pilbara mixed mine. "
