Australian miner BHP Billiton has approved a US$822 million investment for the development of its Orebody 24 iron ore mine, located approximately 10 kilometers northeast of Newman, Western Australia. Orebody 24 is a sustaining mine to maintain iron ore production from the Newman Joint Venture operations.
According to the BHP statement, development at the new mine will include construction of an ore crushing plant, a train loadout facility, rail spur and other associated support facilities.
The annual capacity of the new Orebody 24 mine will be 17 million mt. Initial mining from the mine will start in the second half of calendar year 2012.