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The Cloudbreak mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 89 kilometres west-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range.〔(MINEDEX website: Cloudbreak search result ) accessed: 6 November 2010〕 The mine is fully owned and operated by the Fortescue Metals Group, FMG, and is one of four iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara, the others being Christmas Creek mine (located 50 kilometres east of Cloudbreak.〔) and the Kings Mine and Firetail Mine at the Solomon Project.〔() Fortescue website, accessed: 2 January 2013〕 Fortescue is the third-largest iron ore mining company in the Pilbara, behind Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.〔(Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistic Digest 2009 ) Department of Mines and Petroleum website, accessed: 8 November 2010〕 The mine is situated within the boundaries of Mulga Downs Station which is currently owned by Gina Rinehart. ==Overview== Fortescue acquired the Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek tenements during 2003. The company begun constructing port facilities at Port Hedland in February 2006, followed by a A$3.2 billion capital raising in August 2006 to finance its projects.〔 Construction on the mine itself began in October 2006.〔(Work begins on Cloudbreak mine ) ''ABC News'', published: 24 October 2006, accessed: 9 November 2010〕 Fortescue began mining at Cloudbreak in October 2007.〔(History ) Fortescue website, accessed: 9 November 2010〕 Iron ore production at the mine began in 2008 and, in its first full year of operation, the mine produced 28 million tonnes of iron ore.〔(Mining ) Fortescue website, accessed: 9 November 2010〕 The ore from the mine is processed on site before being loaded onto rail. The product is then transported to the coast at Port Hedland through the Fortescue railway, where it is loaded onto ships. Construction on the 280 kilometre long line from Cloudbreak to the Herb Elliott Port at Port Hedland was begun in November 2006. The line was scheduled to be fully operational within 18 month. A cyclone in March 2007 killed two workers at the project and lead to delays. The first train from the mine to the port travelled on 5 April 2008.〔(Fortescue opens the world's heaviest haul railway ) ''Railway Gazette International'', published: 14 July 2008, accessed: 6 November 2010〕 The mines workforce is on a fly-in fly-out roster.〔(Sucked in ) ''The Australian'', published: 4 April 2008, accessed: 9 November 2010〕 FIFO arrivals and departures take place at Fortescue Dave Forrest Airport, which is approximately 5 kilometers away. The hubs' (Cloudbreak and Chichester combined) annual production rate, as of January 2013, is 90 million tonnes of iron ore. Instead, Fortescue decided to develop its Christmas Creek deposit, at a cost of US$360 million, by building a mine and process plant there and linking it to its existing rail network. Christmas Creek is scheduled to produce 16 million tonnes of iron ore in its first year of operation. Fortescue plans to reach an annual production of 95 million tonnes of iron ore by 2012, downgraded from an earlier target of 120 million.〔(Fortescue Metals Group's China funding flops ) ''The Australian'', published: 13 October 2010, accessed: 9 November 2010〕 Mining at Cloudbreak was temporarily suspended on 24 December 2010 after a fatality as a sign of respect and to ensure the safety of the workers.〔(Iron ore operation suspended after death ) ''The Herald Sun'', published: 24 December 2010, accessed: 25 December 2010〕 Approximately 1,500 workers at the mine had to be evacuated in October 2013 after a large bushfire threatened the accommodation village near the mine. The workers were taken to Christmas Creek mine until the danger had passed. No injuries or damage was caused to the minesite by the fire which was eventually contained. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cloudbreak mine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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