Mining began at Christmas Creek, 50 kilometres to the east of Cloudbreak, in May 2009 and within the next two years, major expansion projects had been undertaken to increase the capacity of Fortescue’s second minesite.
During the first phase of the Christmas Creek expansion, a new ore processing facility was constructed and successfully wet commissioned in March 2011. The ore processing facility is now operating at its targeted capacity of approximately 18mtpa.
The expansion also saw a 50 kilometre extension to the existing Port Hedland to Cloudbreak rail line to transport the ore from Christmas Creek to Cloudbreak and Port Hedland.
Work is also complete on a 1600 bed permanent operations village to house the growing Christmas Creek workforce.
Work is well underway on the second phase of expansion as part of the Chichester Hub expansion to 95mtpa, and during the 2011 December quarter, the product reclaimer at Christmas Creek was commissioned enabling significant reductions in the train loading times.