Iron ore
Prospectivity
The Northern Territory hosts more than 1 billion tonnes of JORC-compliant iron ore resources. Hematite is currenly being mined at the Roper Bar deposit and magnetite production from tailings associated with historic copper-gold deposits from Tennant Creek is scheduled to ramp up in 2026.
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. Roper Bar iron ore mine recommenced production in October 2020. 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.
Other iron resources are associated with magnetite-bearing skarns and gabbro-hosted vanadium-rich magnetite in the Aileron Province.
Read the iron ore factsheet PDF (1.2 MB)
Projects
| Geological Province | Name | Annual Production | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McArthur Basin | Roper Bar | Current target rate of production is ~1.5 Mpa @ 53-56% Fe | 279 Mt @ 41.5% Fe inc. 28 Mt DSO @ 59.4% Fe | Nathan River Resources Pty Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Peko Tailings | Confidential | 3.75 Mt of magnetite-rich tailings (incl. 3.62 Mt @ 1.1g/t Au, 0.22% Cu, 0.1% Co) | Central Core Operating Pty Ltd |
| Geological Province | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warramunga Province | Warrego Tailings | 9.11 Mt @ 35% Fe, 0.21% Cu, 0.48 ppm Au | Northern Iron Ltd (under voluntary administration) |
| Geological Province | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| McArthur Basin | Roper Valley | 488.1 Mt @ 41.7% Fe incl. 41.1 Mt @ 57.8% Fe | Northern Territory Iron Ore Pty Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Frances Creek | 23 Mt @ 53% Fe | Linecrest Pty Ltd (under voluntary administration) |
| Warramunga Province | Rover 1 | 7.86 Mt @ 1.35 g/t Au, 1.24% Cu, 0.07% Co, 0.11% Bi, 23.97% magnetite | Castile Resources Ltd |
| Geological Province | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Creek Orogen | Yarram | 12.7 Mt at 55.4% Fe | CuFe Ltd |
| Geological Province | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aileron Province | Mount Peake | 160.4 Mt @ 0.28% V2O5, 5.3% TiO2, 23% Fe | Tivan Ltd |
| Ngalia Basin | Centralian Project | 13.3 Mt @ 27.1% Fe | Mioxide NT Pty 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?
Explore NT projects
Operating mine
Care and maintenance
In approvals process
Under feasibility
JORC resource
Exploration highlight
