Blue Hills Mungada

The Mungada (Blue Hills) deposit sits within the Yalgoo Mineral Field, Mid-West Region of Western Australia, approximately 570 km northeast of Perth. The terrain is characterised by low-relief, semi-arid breakaways and lateritic mesa formations typical of the Murchison Plateau. These shallow, flat-lying ore bodies favour low strip-ratio open-cut geometries, minimising overburden movement. However, the hardpan laterite cap and seasonal dust conditions impose strict earthworks scheduling and haul-road maintenance protocols for bulk mass-movement operations.

The project operates as a Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) open-cut mine under Sinosteel Midwest Corporation, with KMG Mining Pty Ltd assuming operational control of the Mungada East Extension (S0023347) from October 2020. The B2B supply chain is anchored on:

• FIFO rotational rosters ex-Perth International Airport, with standard 2:1 or 8:6 swing cycles
• Road-train haulage corridors to Geraldton Port via Great Northern Highway
• Mid-West Ports Authority export infrastructure as the primary bulk-ore offtake gateway
• Contracted drill-and-blast, load-and-haul, and grade-control services typical of DSO campaigns

As a DSO operation, Mungada requires no primary grinding circuit or flotation plant; ore is crushed, screened, and sized on-site to meet lump/fines product specifications before road-train dispatch. Key engineering parameters include:

• Run-of-mine crushing and dry screening circuits for lump/fines separation
• Grade-control blast-hole sampling to maintain Fe, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and P specifications
• Dust suppression and water-management systems critical in the semi-arid Murchison environment
• Mungada East Extension adds incremental pit development requiring updated geotechnical wall-angle assessments

Sinosteel Midwest's Mid-West DSO portfolio, including Mungada, operates under Western Australia's Environmental Protection Act 1986 and DMIRS regulatory framework. Formal ESG disclosures at site level are limited in public domain; however, the operational context implies:

• Progressive rehabilitation obligations tied to Mining Proposal approvals
• Potential for solar-hybrid power integration to reduce diesel dependency at remote site facilities
• Dust and water stewardship plans mandated under EPA conditions
• Scope 3 decarbonisation pressure from Chinese steel-mill offtake partners aligned with China's 2060 carbon-neutrality targets