Fortescue’s operations encompass new mining, rail and port facilities in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. As of late July, Fortescue was mining in five active pits across its Cloudbreak mine site, all within a 2-km radius of the runof- mine stockpile area. A total of 10 Wirtgen surface miners were deployed in the mining areas, operating on a double- shift, around-the-clock basis. A further two machines were in the process of final assembly, and the final two machines were en route to the mine. Fortescue’s mine plan calls for each machine to produce a minimum of 800 mt/h of run-of-mine ore, with 12 machines working at any given time and two undergoing periodic maintenance.

The company said the new rail line was ramped up gradually in terms of volume and train speed to allow for the wearing-in and hardening of the rail steel and bedding of sleepers and ballast. From an initial train configuration of 150 to 200 ore wagons, each carrying 80 mt of product, operations as of late July had increased to trains of up to 240 wagons and net loads per wagon of up to 137 mt. Initially, trains were speed-restricted to a maximum of 60 km/hr, but with the laying of additional ballast and the hardening of the steel, speed had increased to 80 km/hr, and round-trip cycle times were approaching the targeted 18 to 19 hours.

At the Herb Elliot port facility, the train unloader and product stacker were operating at a capacity of up to 11,000 mt/hr. Each train has unloaded two wagons at a time at an unloading rate of about 180 mt/min. The product is then conveyed to the stockpile area and stacked for future reclaiming.

The port handles Panamax ships of about 110,000 mt capacity and Capesize ships of up to 200,000 mt capacity. The speed at which product can be loaded onto a ship is determined by a number of factors, including the rate at which the vessel can de-ballast. Fortescue’s ship loader has an ultimate loading rate of up to 12,500 mt/hr which, according to the company, makes it the highest-rated ship loader in the Pilbara.

All of the top 10 Chinese steel mills have signed supply contracts with Fortescue. Baosteel, China’s biggest steel producer and Fortescue’s largest customer, has signed a long-term, 10- million-mt/y supply contract that will be increased by an additional 10 million mt/y once Fortescue production increases beyond 55 million mt/y.