Gina Rinehart’s Atlas Iron has celebrated the official turning of first soil at the McPhee Creek iron ore mine in Western Australia.
Located approximately 100km north of Rinehart’s Roy Hill iron ore mine and 30km north of Nullagine in WA, McPhee was expected to produce its first ore in 2023.
However, various environmental and regulatory hurdles resulted in Atlas Iron pushing the milestone to the 2025–26 financial year (FY26).
In September, Atlas Iron was granted final approval by the Federal Government to build McPhee in the Pilbara region.
Now, the first soil has been turned at McPhee, marking an important development milestone for the project.
To commemorate the event, Rinehart, HanRoy Iron Ore Projects chief executive officer Sanjiv Manchanda and other staff members from Roy Hill, HanRoy and Atlas Iron took part in a special sod-turning ceremony.
“Not only will McPhee help us remain a trusted and reliable supplier of iron ore in the global market, but its development will also ensure ongoing jobs and opportunities for our fantastic staff and the many local, small and large businesses our operations support, and the continuation of billions of dollars in revenue to governments through taxes and royalties (and) revenue which funds jobs and living standards, plus services and infrastructure that assist Australians,” Rinehart said.
Once McPhee is operational, ore from the site will be transported to and processed at Roy Hill where it can be blended to improve product mix and sustain Roy Hill’s production volumes, extending the life of mine for employees working across Rinehart’s businesses, creating billions of dollars in royalties and taxes paid to Federal and State Governments.
Alongside developing McPhee, HanRoy is working with the WA Government to upgrade 92km of Marble Bar Road to a two-lane, sealed road to enable Roy Hill mining operations to proceed across the existing Marble Bar road alignment.
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