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The Latest Breaking News from Pilbara

Andrew Forrest's Fortescue flags major asset writedown

Fortescue will write off $746 million from the value of its Iron Bridge magnetite mine in the Pilbara after reviewing scenarios for the troubled operation.

AAP

The biggest atomic blast in Australia happened 70 years ago – mysteries about its impact linger

One winter’s day in June 1956, Britain detonated the largest weapon ever exploded in Australia. The test, code-named Mosaic G2, was conducted at Western Australia’s remote Montebello Islands, site of the first British atomic test in 1952, over 100 kilometres off the Pilbara coast.

The Conversation

Here’s what’s at stake as BHP workers prepare for a historic strike

On Thursday, up to 200 workers at mining giant BHP’s Port Hedland export terminal will take protected industrial action for eight hours. This will mark the first strike action at the company’s iron division since 2000.

The Conversation

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Former top BHP economist urges tougher government policies to push miners to decarbonise

Exclusive: ‘The preferred policy is, of course, a carbon price,’ Dr Huw McKay says, amid slowdown in BHP action on emissions

The Guardian - AU

Port worker wage stoush set to trigger historic strike

Hundreds of port workers are expected to walk off the job after failed wage negotiations between a mining giant and unions.

AAP

Earth’s oldest asteroid impact crater may just have been found

Researchers date North Pole Dome in Australia’s Pilbara region to over 3 billion years ago

The Independent UK

Earth’s oldest crater really is over 3 billion years old, new study confirms

In the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth’s oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years. They are dark, weathered volcanic rocks, close to 3.5 billion years old, cut by veins and stewed by deep time.

The Conversation

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Scientists in Australia find ‘smoking gun’ evidence of world’s oldest meteorite strike

Curtin University researchers use innovative techniques to date three-billion-year-old impact crater in Western Australia’s Pilbara region

The Guardian - AU

For 44 years, Australia has subsidised diesel use. Is it time to stop?

Mining giant BHP has come under fire for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new diesel trucks in the Pilbara, despite promising a transition to electric trucks in its climate strategy.

The Conversation

World’s biggest miner BHP backtracks on climate action with key projects put on ice, leaked documents reveal

Exclusive: Cache of internal documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners show multinational has war-gamed ways to massively delay decarbonisation

The Guardian - AU

BHP quietly scrapped plan to build Pilbara plant that would have drastically cut emissions

Exclusive: Jimblebar processing facility would have produced higher quality iron ore sought by steelmakers around the world – themselves under pressure to curb pollution

The Guardian - AU

Hancock mining riches battle shifts to legal bill fight

Australia's richest person survived a legal bid to claim a share of some of her prized iron ore assets; now the lawyers are fighting over the legal bills.

AAP

Rinehart legal saga reignites, Hancock lodges appeal

The epic legal battle between the company owned by billionaire Gina Rinehart and the heirs of iron ore pioneer Peter Wright is set for another chapter.

AAP

Traditional owners sue Western Australia government for $1.5bn to clean up toxic asbestos at Wittenoom

Town in the state’s Pilbara region was the site of three blue asbestos mines and has been described as ‘the largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere’

The Guardian - AU

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The Conversation

Cane toads are hopping towards the Pilbara, but a water-free containment zone could stop them

It is early evening in Australia’s top end, and a hunter stalks its prey. Keenly alert, the northern quoll follows the sound of rustling in the leaf litter. It must be some kind of frog, the small carnivorous marsupial decides, and pounces. But the quoll is seized by an immediate…

The Conversation

How does a flaming piece of space junk end up on Earth? A space archaeologist explains

The mysterious object was on fire and lying in the middle of a remote dirt road in Western Australia’s Pilbara region when mine workers stumbled upon it.

Space

Earth's 'oldest' impact crater is much younger than previously thought, new study finds

Unravelling Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history with rocks is tricky business.

The Independent UK

New study challenges discovery of Earth’s ‘oldest’ impact crater

The discovery of an ancient meteorite impact crater was recently reported in Western Australia. But not everyone is convinced it is Earth’s oldest

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The Conversation

Earth’s ‘oldest’ impact crater is much younger than previously thought – new study

Ever been late because you misread a clock? Sometimes, the “clocks” geologists use to date events can also be misread. Unravelling Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history with rocks is tricky business.

The Conversation

Synchronised bleaching: Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching in unison for the first time

This summer, an intense marine heatwave struck off northwestern Australia, driving sea surface temperatures up to 4°C above the summer average. The large mass of warm water has slowly moved south from the Kimberley region and through the Pilbara, leaving a wave of underwater destruction behind. Now Ningaloo Reef is…

The Conversation

After 30 years on the outer, unions could soon return to the Pilbara. Here’s why that’s a big deal

A battle is underway on the mine sites in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region. Unions are keen to get back into the iron ore industry after decades on the outer. Mining companies are desperate to keep them out.

Space

Scientists discover Earth's oldest impact crater in Australia

This week, geologists announced they discovered the world's oldest known impact crater. It's in Western Australia's ancient Pilbara region.

The Conversation

Earth’s oldest impact crater was just found in Australia – exactly where geologists hoped it would be

We have discovered the oldest meteorite impact crater on Earth, in the very heart of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The crater formed more than 3.5 billion years ago, making it the oldest known by more than a billion years. Our discovery is published today in Nature Communications.

AAP

Mine giant denies it's to blame for community division

Native title holders are seeking $1.8 billion in compensation from an iron ore miner as a long-running legal dispute over a Pilbara mine draws to an end.

AAP

Community, Country 'ruptured' over iron ore mine damage

Traditional Owners are seeking $1.8 billion from an iron ore miner over economic loss and cultural damage at a Pilbara mine site.

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