(Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group will spend $1.8 billion to expand its Brockman iron ore hub in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, seeking to maintain adequate production levels of the steelmaking material as older mines are depleted.
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Construction of the Brockman 4 project will begin this year and production will commence in 2027, a year earlier than previously anticipated, Rio said in a filing Thursday.
“Securing this project extends the life of the Brockman hub,” Rio Iron Ore Chief Executive Simon Trott said in the statement. “Our tranche of new mines will ensure we can continue to supply the globe’s ongoing need for iron ore, for decades to come.”
Rio is facing declining grades and depletion of iron ore resources at many of its existing projects, prompting significant investment in the region to maintain output. Trott has previously stated that Rio needs to build a new mine every year until the end of this decade to ensure adequate levels of supply.
The producer faced criticism from investors and lawmakers over an incident in 2020, when explosions to open up a mining area for the Brockman 4 operation blasted the Juukan Gorge sites. Archaeologists had told the company in a 2018 report the sites were among the most significant of their type in Australia and that evidence had been recovered showing use by humans more than 40,000 years ago.
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