BHP halts Jimblebar operations to boost safety

The operations were suspended around midday Monday before the ramp up started again first thing Tuesday.

A BHP spokesperson said the company’s general manager made the decision to temporarily pause operations to re-establish and reinforce safety requirements with all teams, following a number of low level recordable injuries on-site in recent weeks.

“The safety of our people is our first priority,” the spokesperson said. “Operations recommenced after several hours and there was no impact to production.”

BHP achieved a record production of 58.5 million tonnes at Jimblebar in the 2019 financial year, up from 55.8 million tonnes in the previous year.

At Jimblebar, ore is crushed, beneficiated and blended to create high-grade hematite lump and fines products. Iron ore products are then transported to the Finucane Island and Port Hedland in Western Australia.

BHP employs more than 800 people at Jimblebar, while running a fully autonomous fleet of trucks and drills on site.

The joint venture between BHP (85 per cent) and Mitsui and ITOCHU (15 per cent) is the first fully autonomous haulage site that BHP Iron Ore established (in November 2017).