Iron ore
Prospectivity
Most iron ore production has occurred from the Frances Creek deposits near Pine Creek, which are hydrothermally-enriched hematite deposits within the Pine Creek Orogen. The largest iron ore resources and most current production is located within large oolitic hematite deposits of the Roper iron field in the McArthur Basin.
Large iron ore resources occur in the Roper iron field, hosted in the Roper Group of the McArthur Basin, south of the Roper River. The field contains more than 1 billion tonnes of moderate grade iron ore, with around 85 million tonnes of higher grade direct shipping ore (57-59% Fe) at the Roper Valley and Roper Bar deposits. Mining occurred at Roper Bar in 2013-2014, with export through Bing Bong port. Iron ore in the Roper field varies from massive to oolitic and pisolitic haematite, within the Mesoproterozoic Sherwin Ironstone Member.
Pine Creek Orogen hosts a number of high grade and low tonnage hydrothermally-enriched hematite deposits. This includes the Frances Creek iron ore deposits, which were mined from 1967-1974 and 2007-2014. In June 2021, Linecrest Pty Ltd exported a shipment of iron ore from stockpiles at Frances Creek that had been beneficiated using automated ore sorting technology.
Historical mining of gold- and copper-bearing ironstone at Tennant Creek has produced tailings containing up to 70% magnetite at a number of sites that are located near the Alice Springs-Darwin railway line and existing infrastructure.
Read the iron ore factsheet PDF (2.9 MB)
Projects
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| McArthur Basin | Roper Bar | 279 Mt @ 41.5% Fe inc. 28 Mt DSO @ 59.4% Fe | Nathan River Resources Pty Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warramunga Province | Peko Tailings | 3.75 Mt of magnetite-rich tailings | Elmore Ltd (under administration) |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warramunga Province | Warrego Tailings | 9.11 Mt of stockpiles containing 2.91 Mt @ +67% Fe | Northern Iron Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| McArthur Basin | Roper Valley | 529.3 Mt @ 42.9% Fe incl. 41.1 Mt @ 57.8% Fe Nathan River Resources Pty Ltd | Northern Territory Iron Ore Pty Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Frances Creek | JORC resource not publicly announced | Linecrest Pty Ltd |
| Warranmunga Province | Rover 1 | 5.58 Mt @ 1.76 g/t Au, 1.49% Cu, 0.07% Co, 23.2% magnetite | Castile Resources Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ngalia Basin | Centralian Project | 14.1 Mt @ 27.1% Fe | Mioxide NT Pty Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Yarram | 12.7 Mt at 55.4% Fe | CuFe Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aileron Province | Mount Peake | 160.4 Mt @ 0.28% V2O5, 5.3% TiO2, 23% Fe | Tivan Ltd |
Reports
- NTGS Report 13 – Iron ore, manganese and bauxite deposits of the Northern Territory (2001)
- Glass and de Chaeney, AGES 2014 Abstracts Volume – Frances Creek iron ore deposit - a unique style of iron mineralisation?
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