Newman

We've headed north again, Newman is just back north of the Tropic of Capricorn and back in the Pilbara. At last we are back to warm, dry weather. The town was built in the sixties to service the Mt Whaleback iron ore mine, and is now a township of some 4,000 people. Like the rest of the Pilbara, it is surrounded by dry red hills and scrub, with only a few permanent pools. Presumably in the wet season there is more flowing down the currently dry watercourses.

Having done the port tour at Port Hedland, we did the mine tour here to see the beginning of the iron ore export process. The Mt Whaleback mine is huge - the mountain was originally 805 metres above sea level, the open cut pit is now down to 420 metres below sea level with plans to go down a further 250 metres. Mt Whaleback is only one of several mines in the area - in the last 40 years over 1 billion tonnes of ore has been sent to Port Hedland for shipment, and they are currently gearing up both the port and the mines to at least double the annual production capacity. The town itself is pretty well what we have come to expect from a mining town - fewer services than one would expect from a town of this size (once again no butcher) and astronomically expensive real estate.