Rio Tinto has celebrated the shipment of 8 billion tonnes1 of iron ore to global markets from the Pilbara region, 60 years after the company’s first shipment set sail from Western Australia for Japan.
The milestone shipment departed from Cape Lambert port aboard the Juno Horizon on May 19, bound for Nippon Steel Corporation, one of Rio Tinto’s longstanding partners.
Rio Tinto’s first Pilbara iron ore shipment departed in August 1966 for Japan.
Eight billion tonnes of iron ore is enough to produce the steel needed for more than 161,000 Perth Optus Stadiums, 134,000 Tokyo Skytrees or more than 46,000 Beijing National Stadiums (Bird’s Nest).
Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations have supported the development of six towns across the region, including Karratha, Wickham, Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Pannawonica and Dampier, as well as a further five communities from the Kimberley to the Great Southern through its regional fly-in fly-out program.
The company is also advancing studies at Rhodes Ridge (Rio Tinto 50%), one of the world’s best undeveloped iron ore deposits, which in the long term could support a world-class mining hub with potential capacity of about 100 million tonnes of high-quality iron ore a year. Rhodes Ridge will maintain Rio Tinto’s pathway to achieve and sustain mid-term capacity of 345 to 360Mtpa from its Pilbara iron ore business.