Iron Bridge mine

The Iron Bridge mine is an iron ore mine which opened in 2023 in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, south of Port Hedland.
The mine is fully owned and operated by Fortescue and is one of several iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara, the others being Christmas Creek mine, Cloudbreak mine and the Kings Valley mine and Firetail mine at the Solomon Project.

Background

The geology is banded iron formation with reserves of 716 million tonnes of iron ore.

Construction

The project suffered from cost explosion, with the latest projection of $4.87 billion being 30 per cent higher than the original estimate. The workforce peaked at 4,000 jobs during construction. Around $330 million were awarded directly to local Traditional Custodian Nyamal businesses.

Operation

The 12 grinding rolls use 93 MW to reduce the ore to 80 microns, and 10 grinding mills use 50 MW to further reduce to 35 microns. The powder at 0.028mm is mixed with water to slurry and sent by pipeline 135 km to Port Hedland.
The mine is connected to Fortesque's power grid, and got a 26 MW short-duration Battery [energy storage system|battery] in 2023. The 100 megawatt North Star Junction solar park opened in 2024, supplying some of the mine's power. A 50 MW / 250 MWh grid forming battery was ordered in late 2024 for the solar farm, and started operating in January 2026.
The mine gets 25 billion liters of water per year from the Canning Basin, and also uses return water piped from Port Hedland.
The mine's workforce is around 900 on a fly-in fly-out roster. FIFO arrivals and departures take place at the mine's own airport with a 8,300 ft asphalt runway, 15 km west of the mine.