Roy Hill Iron Ore (RHIO) has made amendments to the existing proposal of the £5.9bn ($10bn) Roy Hill Iron Ore mine in Australia, to increase the ground disturbance footprint.
Located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA), the Roy Hill open pit mine is owned and operated under the entity RHIO.
The project is jointly owned by Hancock (70%), Marubeni (15%), POSCO (12.5%) and China Steel Corporation (2.5%).
The Roy Hill project involves the open cut mining, processing, transport via heavy haul railway and export of bedded Marra Mamba and detrital iron ore from port facilities in Port Hedland.
RHIO, since the commencement of the original proposal, has significantly developed a better understanding of the mine’s ore body.
The increased knowledge has led the company to make changes to the life of mine (LOM) plan that would result in flow-on impacts to management of water, materials and tailings.
The amendments to the mining proposal have been submitted to the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).
The revised proposal will see the company increase its ground disturbance footprint by 5995ha, life of mine (LOM) water management strategy, revised waste material management strategy including changes to backfilling of pits and waste rockdump locations, development of permanent surface water structures and an increase to greenhouse gas emissions.
In compliance with Environmental Protection Authority, RHIO prepared an environmental review document (ERD) describing the revised proposal, and is released for public review.
The mine’s current life is 17 years and is expected to extend by 12 years.
