The West Angelas open-pit iron ore operation is located in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The project, which began operations in 2022, is managed by the Robe River Joint Venture, with ownership split among Rio Tinto (53%), Mitsui Iron Ore (33%) and Nippon Steel (14%).
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In October 2025, the joint venture announced the $733m West Angelas Sustaining Project, which is intended to extract further ore within the existing hub and maintain an annual production rate of 35 million tonnes (mt).
The project has obtained the required state and federal approvals and is expected to produce first ore in 2027.
Construction activity is expected to employ about 600 people, and ongoing operations are forecast to maintain roughly 950 full-time equivalent roles at the hub.
Location
The West Angelas iron ore mine is located within the Hamersley Range in East Pilbara, roughly 110km north-west of Newman town.
West Angelas Sustaining Project details
The West Angelas Sustaining Project will use the existing West Angelas processing infrastructure and will involve the construction of new non-process infrastructure precincts and 22km of haul roads.
It will also include the expansion and upgrading of certain infrastructure to support mining operations at the site.
Early contractor involvement will be sought from panel members on Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Earthworks programme for bulk earthworks packages. Around 11 construction contracts are scheduled for award by Q2 2026.
Works to enable mining of the three new deposits include bulk earthworks, construction of heavy- and light-vehicle roads, installation of grade separations, site clearing and establishment of surface water management works.
General infrastructure upgrades cover non-process facilities such as administration areas, dining facilities, washrooms, storage spaces, ice and wellness rooms, fire-response buildings, dewatering and water-supply systems, and power and communications infrastructure.
The scope also includes design, installation, hire and demobilisation of temporary construction facilities for the integrated project team, comprising offices, meeting rooms, ablutions, induction and training rooms and first aid buildings.
West Angelas mineralisation and reserves
At West Angelas, mineralisation is hosted in banded iron formations — goethite and haematite in the Marra Mamba Formation, and haematite with goethite in the Brockman Formation. It also contains detrital iron mineralisation to a lesser extent.
Marra Mamba contains proven ore reserves of 70mt with an average iron content of 62.5% Fe and probable ore reserves of 451mt with 62% Fe.
Mining and processing
At the West Angelas open‑pit property, conventional surface mining is conducted. Drilled and blasted material is loaded by shovels and loaders into trucks for transport to waste dumps or to processing areas.
The operation uses dry crushing and screening to produce lump and fines iron ore products.
Material extracted from the new deposits is to the West Angelas hub for processing.
Previous expansions at West Angelas mine
The West Angelas mine previously underwent an expansion project in March 2014.
In February 2014, Robe River Iron Associates funded the development of Deposit B at the West Angelas mine and expanded its production capacity.
The cost of the expansion was estimated at A$642m ($580.4m).
When the project finished in 2015, total output from West Angelas — including Deposit B and the site’s other deposits — rose to 35 million tonnes per year.
In October 2018, Robe River JV agreed to develop new ore deposits — Mesa B/C/H (Robe Valley) and Deposit C/D (West Angelas). At that time, the expansion entailed an investment of $1.55bn.
The WA Environmental Protection Authority recommended approval for the West Angelas mine expansion in May 2019, subject to measures protecting national park water resources and habitat for threatened ghost bats.
The recommendation to the Environment Minister followed a public review of the EPA’s assessment of expanding open-cut mining at West Angelas from 22,600 hectares (ha) to 26,700ha.
Calibre Group, Decmil Australia, Monadelphous, Forge Group Power and mining and civil construction contractor NRW won contracts for the West Angelas mine expansion.