Mining giant Mineral Resources to slash 1,000 jobs as it shuts down major operation
Mining giant Mineral Resources will shut down its iron ore operations in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, causing about 1,000 employees to lose their jobs.
Billionaire MinRes founder Chris Ellison said the Yilgarn hub, which consists of about five mining sites east of Perth, would not be financially viable from next year.
In addition to site workers, the closure of the 13-year-old Yilgarn hub is also expected to impact wider contractors and suppliers.
Mr Ellison said this week that MinRes, valued at around $12 billion, expects to ship four million tonnes of iron ore from Yilgarn over the next six months and then rehabilitate the sites from 2025.
Mr Ellison said in an ASX statement that the “prudent” decision was “not taken lightly” and that MinRes would seek to redeploy employees to other mining sites or processing facilities.
Mining giant Mineral Resources will shut down its iron ore operations in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, causing about 1,000 workers to lose their jobs (stock image)
He said the decision was based on declining resources at current mine sites and the time it would take to develop new sites in the area.
“With our investment across Western Australia, we have almost 800 job openings and will redeploy as many of our people as possible to other MinRes operations, including to our low-cost, sustainable Onslow Iron project,” he said.
MinRes has expanded its iron ore projects in the Pilbara region of northern Washington, which includes Onslow.
This week a worker died at the Onslow Iron site in an incident under investigation by mine safety authorities.
In addition to workers on site, the closure of the 13-year-old Yilgarn hub is also expected to impact wider contractors and suppliers (stock image)
Last month, MinRes sent its first shipment from the Pilbara to China’s Baowu Group, the world’s largest steelmaker.
Last week it spent about $72 million to buy Pilbara iron ore assets from Kerry Stokes-backed BCI Minerals.
By June 2025, Onslow is expected to export 35 million tonnes of iron ore per year, dwarfing Yilgarn’s production of around eight million tonnes per year.