Dead centre of iron finds life again

FOR 15 years, the dusty birthplace of Australia's steel industry that boasted a population of 3000 has been all but abandoned.

Iron Knob residents Heather Carpenter, Tomas Thornton and Bryan Lock look forward to the resumption of mining in the area. Picture: Kelly Barnes

FOR the past 15 years, since BHP scaled back and then closed the mines that drove its economy for a century, the dusty birthplace of Australia's steel industry that once boasted a population of 3000 has been all but abandoned.

But now the remaining 160 residents of Iron Knob, 50km north of Whyalla in South Australia, are starting to look to a new future beyond the deserted roadhouse, vandalised motel and a swimming pool filled with gravel.

Mining has returned to Iron Knob.

Arrium - formerly known as OneSteel when it was spun off from BHP in 2000 - will mine three pits around the town, and exports are expected from late next year.

"It's only open for 10 years, but you might get a career out of it," said 28-year-old Tomas Thornton, who grew up in the town and has returned to Iron Knob in the hope of working the mines like his father did.

"When I heard the mine was starting up again, I thought I'd come back and do some courses."

Large deposits of iron ore were discovered in the hill that looms over the town in the mid-1850s, before mining began in earnest in 1899.

It was the largest source of iron ore before the Pilbara was mined.

A short film that the local tourist office plays for visitors emphasises the importance of its iron ore deposits while words about its closure flicker across the screen.

As retirees who remained in Iron Knob after the mines closed pass on, their homes are left abandoned or put on the market with asking prices as low as $20,000.

Locals have often complained that every second block of land has the rusting wreckages of cars, and the sight of the faded roadhouse and the broken windows at the old motel on the road into town has been off-putting for tourists.

But Bryan Lock, a retiree who volunteers as a tour guide around the area, said the gloom in the community had started to lift.

Arrium's preparations for the mines have begun, with heavy machinery already clearing scrub and topsoil about a kilometre away.

The company has provided an initial outlay of $82 million this year.

Mr Lock, 74, said he did not not expect a lot of jobs to be created, but was adamant there would be flow-on benefits for the town.

"If we accept that it's fly-in, fly-out operations, it's not necessarily going to build us up into a big town. But we can capitalise on what they're doing there," Mr Lock said.

"Even in the last couple of weeks, we've been doing 10 or 20 tours. Once the mine does open, and they can see activity down there, the interest is going to increase even more. The town of Iron Knob will make its livelihood out of tourism."

Heather Carpenter, 79, spent most of her life working as a secretary at the mine's office and then commuted to Whyalla to work until age 70.

Mrs Carpenter said the town used to be filled with sports clubs and community dances, and she had once discovered her son, then aged four, climbing up the hill to the mine to "visit his father".

But after watching the town grow and prosper for so many years, she said it was unlikely to do so again. "There were more people on the mining payroll than there are living in the town now," she said.

"They came from Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania. After that everybody came."

There are hopes more may come again.