Mineral Resources brings little Lamb Creek to life as WA’s first new iron ore mine of 2026

WA has its first new iron ore mine this year after Mineral Resources shipped maiden ore from its Lamb Creek project three months after breaking ground. The first shipment of Lamb Creek ore set sail from Port Hedland on Thursday, breathing new life into MinRes’ secondary Pilbara iron ore hub. Lamb Creek is 110km north-west of Newman and is being developed as an open pit mine with a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes a year, replacing the nearby depleted Wonmunna mine. MinRes said Lamb Creek adds at least five years of life to its central Pilbara hub, which has production guidance of between 9mt and 10mt this financial year. Ore from both Lamb Creek and the Iron Valley mine, located 50km apart, is trucked to the Utah Point bulk handling facility in Port Hedland where it is blended before export. “Moving rapidly and safely from breaking ground to first shipment in just three months is a testament to our engineering and construction team’s ability to deliver on time,” MinRes iron ore and energy chief executive Darren Hardy said. MinRes started work on the Lamb Creek mine and supporting infrastructure, including a 17km haul road and crushing plant, in December. “The investment in Lamb Creek reinforces our commitment to sustained growth in the region, extends the life of our Pilbara hub and secures jobs for years to come,” Mr Hardy said. MinRes is currently relocating workers from Wonmunna to Lamb Creek. Wonmunna was acquired from the Australian Aboriginal Mining Corporation about five years ago as an undeveloped project and more than 26mt has since been exported from the site. MinRes’ broader iron ore business is underpinned by the Onslow Iron project in the west Pilbara. Onslow Iron involves ore being trucked via a 150km road from the Ken’s Bore mining operation to the Port of Ashburton. Onslow Iron has a nameplate capacity of 35mtpa — a rate MinRes has been operating at since August. MinRes’ maiden Lamb Creek shipment came on the same day it became public that resources sector lobbyist Paul Everingham would step into Tim Picton’s role at MinRes following the former Labor powerbroker’s death from an alleged assault earlier this year. The West Australian understands Mr Everingham will start in the job as MinRes’ director of strategy and growth by the end of this year. MinRes is also among the Pilbara iron ore majors benefitting from the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, with rival cargoes diverted mid-voyage to East Asia to bypass one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. Its shares closed Friday at $57.48 — up almost 8 per cent for the week. The leap came as futures of the steelmaking ingredient rose more than 6 per cent last week — the biggest jump in a year. But China’s state-backed iron ore trader moved over the weekend to keep a lid on any further rises, telling steel mills it would temporarily ease restrictions on one of BHP’s products. China Mineral Resources Group is understood to have allowed some steelmakers in the country to pick up their cargoes of BHP’s Jimblebar iron ore that have been building up in ports since the firm imposed a ban on purchases of the ore last year. CMRG last week also informally asked mills to avoid buying Newman fines, another BHP product. That move triggered a rush to buy in advance of a feared broadening of bans on BHP cargoes. It is understood the reprieve for BHP’s Jimblebar iron ore hasn’t been extended to traders and the move is seen as a concession to mills during a long-running commercial dispute between BHP and CMRG, which is responsible for procuring iron ore for China’s steelmakers. A spokesperson from BHP declined to comment and CMRG didn’t respond to an email seeking comments. The mills have about one week to move stockpiles at ports to their factories, and a similar timeframe to take Newman ores that have already been delivered, the people said. Some Chinese steelmakers have been urgently transporting some popular BHP grades to their plants this week after CMRG indicated it would blacklist more BHP products. The state buyer told producers to halt purchases of Jimblebar blend fines in September due to a dispute over long-term supply contracts. It later expanded the restrictions to cover all new dollar-denominated products from BHP, and subsequently widened the curbs to the Jinbao variety.