Koolan Island Mine

Koolan Island is situated in Yampi Sound, West Kimberley, Western Australia — approximately 2,400 km north of Perth, accessible exclusively by air or sea. This extreme remoteness creates compounded supply chain vulnerabilities: all consumables, reagents, spare parts, and heavy equipment must be barged or airfreighted. The island's rugged topography, tidal extremes, and tropical cyclone exposure (Category risk zone) impose strict seasonal operational windows and demand robust contingency logistics planning from all B2B vendors.

Operated by Koolan Iron Ore Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mount Gibson Iron Ltd.), the mine resumed production in 2019 following a major seawall breach in 2014 that flooded the main pit. Current operations focus on:

• Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) extraction targeting +65% Fe grades
• Ore export via dedicated marine loading facilities at Yampi Sound
• Rotational FIFO workforce managed through chartered Perth-based flights
• Contracted marine barge services for all heavy freight and fuel supply

The operation employs a conventional open-pit drill-and-blast methodology with truck-and-shovel fleets. Crushed and screened ore is transferred via conveyor systems to the marine export facility, where precise belt-speed calibration and transfer-point engineering are critical to minimise fines generation and product degradation. The seawall — rebuilt post-2014 breach — represents the site's most critical civil asset, requiring continuous structural monitoring, dewatering pump redundancy, and geotechnical instrumentation as non-negotiable vendor deliverables.

Mount Gibson Iron has committed to progressive ESG decarbonisation targets aligned with WA's resources sector benchmarks. Key sustainability vectors at Koolan include:

• Evaluation of solar-hybrid power generation to reduce diesel dependency on the island microgrid
• Marine biodiversity monitoring protocols in Yampi Sound (UNESCO-adjacent sensitive ecosystem)
• Waste rock and tailings management under DMIRS-compliant rehabilitation plans
• Scope 1 & 2 emissions reporting integrated into annual MGX sustainability disclosures