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Ridges iron ore mine (Matsu; Pompey's Pillar), Glen Hill Station, Wyndham-East Kimberley Shire, Western Australia, Australiai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Ridges iron ore mine (Matsu; Pompey's Pillar) | Mine |
| Glen Hill Station | - not defined - |
| Wyndham-East Kimberley Shire | Shire |
| Western Australia | State |
| Australia | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
16° 37' 30'' South , 128° 15' 41'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Pompey's Pillar is an impressive natural rock spire a short distance east of the Great Northern Highway, approximately 165 kilometres south of Kununurra.
Four miles east of the pillar is siliceous hematite outcropping for 10 miles along the crest of a mountain range. There are two deposits, being Pompey's Pillar, divided into a west and east zone, and secondly Matsu to the south-east.
Both are near the base of the Golden Gate Siltstone. The Ivanhoe Fault has displaced the Matsu deposit several kilometres east from the Pompey deposit. Matsu is larger but lower grade, and is more difficult to access.
The Pompey's Pillar deposit forms the cap of a range, the deposit 35 feet thick, of massive sandy hematite beds, and hematite sandstone, interbedded with Fe shale and quartz sandstone. There is some pisolith and botryoidal goethite in the weathered surface.
The Pompey's Pillar deposit was first drilled in 1962, estimated at 60% Fe with selective mining. The deposit is 9000 feet long, 400 feet wide, and 15 to 35 feet thick. The eastern section of the deposit is much smaller.
Matsu caps a gentle slope, several hundred metres wide, striking for 4 miles at 35 feet thick. Impurities like sandstone and shale probably make the average Fe around 50% or less.
The low grade, limited extent of the deposits, and huge deposits of iron ore elsewhere in Western Australia, would indicate mining would never take off here, but high iron ore prices changed that. KMG commenced mining iron ore at Pompey's Pillar, which it re-named Ridges, in July 2011, shipping ore out of Wyndham. The mine was placed on care and maintenance in February 2015, after the high grade reserves were exhausted, and conveniently iron ore prices had crashed. Matsu remains undeveloped at the time of writing.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
2 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
Note: data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!
Select Rock List Type
Alphabetical List Tree DiagramGallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Goethite | 4.00. | Fe3+O(OH) |
| ⓘ | Hematite | 4.CB.05 | Fe2O3 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Goethite | Fe3+O(OH) |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Goethite | Fe3+O(OH) |
| O | ⓘ Hematite | Fe2O3 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Goethite | Fe3+O(OH) |
| Fe | ⓘ Hematite | Fe2O3 |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Australia
- Halls Creek OrogenOrogen
- Lamboo ProvinceGeologic Province
- North Australian ElementCraton
- Northern Territory
- Kalkarindji Igneous ProvinceGeologic Province
- Western Australia
- Carr Boyd BasinBasin
Australian PlateTectonic Plate
- North Australian Craton
- Kimberley CratonShield
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