Mineral Resources (MinRes) has confirmed no workers were injured in the road train crash that has temporarily paused its Onslow Iron haul road operations.
The incident occurred on March 17 when the two rear trailers of a road train tipped onto their side. The prime mover and first trailer remained upright.
The miner is currently working with WorkSafe WA to investigate the cause of the crash.
“Haulage is continuing via contractor vehicles using alternative routes, and MinRes transhippers will continue to load ocean-going vessels during this period,” MinRes said.
“MinRes has strengthened controls and traffic management on the haul road and currently expects to resume haul road operations without impacting FY25 Onslow Iron volume guidance.”
Onslow Iron is one of the largest iron ore projects under development in Australia, set to unlock billions of tonnes of stranded deposits in the west Pilbara region.
In May 2024, first ore on ship was achieved ahead of schedule. MinRes expects the project will soon ramp up to 35 million tonnes per year, with an expected mine life of more than 30 years.
The Onslow Iron haul road spans 150km, the shortest haul road in Australian mining’s history, making its journey Ken’s Bore to the Port of Ashburton.
Upon arrival at the port, ore is tipped in MinRes’ 220,000-tonne capacity storage shed before being reclaimed onto an enclosed conveyor belt and loaded into transhippers, which transport the ore 40km offshore to awaiting vessels.
MinRes is in the processes of switching its road train fleet to a fully autonomous fit-out, which confer with roadside monitoring bases that use thermal imaging cameras and artificial intelligence to provide early identification of potential issues with wheels, brakes and flat tyres.
MinRes sold 49 per cent of the Onslow Iron project’s dedicated haul road to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners in September 2024 – a transaction valued at $1.3 billion.
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