MinRes probes latest iron ore truck crashes
Mineral Resources has stepped up investigations into accidents involving its massive ore trucks at its new WA operations as it deals with a backlash over moves to replace Chris Ellison as boss.
Mineral Resources has stepped up investigations into a series of accidents involving the jumbo road trains crucial to its new iron ore mining operations in WA.
The latest incident on Sunday followed a crash last week and two previous rollovers.
The accidents all involved triple-trailer road trains each capable of carrying 330 tonnes of iron ore, raising doubts about the safety and reliability of the haulage system.
The trucking problems come on top of a governance crisis engulfing MinRes and a backlash from some long-time shareholders over moves to replace Chris Ellison as managing director despite his involvement in a series of scandals.
MinRes only recently finished building a dedicated haul road built to cart iron ore from previously stranded deposits in the West Pilbara to port facilities at Onslow.
The $3bn Onslow Iron project relies on the jumbo road trains travelling at high frequency on the haul road, and barges to transfer iron ore from port to carriers moored offshore.
It is understood one of the barges was out of action for days after rope became tangled around its propeller, amid a series of teething problems with the project.
MinRes refused to comment about the barge incident but confirmed there had been more accidents involving the jumbo road trains in the past fortnight.
“MinRes road trains operating at Onslow Iron have been involved in four separate incidents since August,” a spokesman said.
“Of these, one incident occurred on the dedicated haul road. The incidents are under investigation. Onslow Iron’s production ramp-up continues to remain on schedule.
“Separately, a single rear trailer of a contractor road train transporting construction material tipped on the shoulder of the private mine access road on September 14.”
MinRes launched its initial investigation into the road train accidents more than two months ago.
When questioned about the first two rollovers in September, MinRes said: “Safety is our top priority and both incidents are being investigated to ensure we identify the cause and any corrective actions.”
Separate to the truck crashes, the company is the focus of an animal cruelty investigation over allegations hundreds of cattle may have been cut off from water during the construction of the haul road, and that other cattle became trapped in earthworks left behind by MinRes on Red Hill Station and had to be destroyed.
MinRes sold a 49 per cent stake in the haul road to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners for $1.3bn in a deal which was crucial to strengthening its balance sheet.
The company was bullish about the progress of Onslow Iron at its annual general meeting in Perth on Thursday where it received a first strike against its remuneration report.
“Our Onslow Iron project has now been delivered, and even in its early ramp-up stages is cashflow positive on a project basis and on track to meet nameplate capacity from June 2025,” it told investors.
MinRes earmarked almost $800m for more work on Onslow Iron in 2024-25, including finishing the 150km haul road built to handle jumbo road trains travelling at a rate of one every few minutes in order to get 35 million tonnes of iron ore a year to Onslow.
Mr Ellison has been working on plans to have the Kenworth-built prime movers pull four trailers carrying a combined 440 tonnes of iron ore, and to have them operating autonomously on the haul road by about March.
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