Rio Tinto cuts scores of operational roles at West Angelas mine and two other iron ore hubs in the Pilbara

Rio Tinto has sacked operations staff working at three of its Pilbara iron ore mines and shrunk the scale of two other proposed developments. The West Australian understands up to 100 production staff have been laid off across West Angelas and two other iron ore sites. Sources say the job cuts at West Angelas number around 40. It is not clear which of the other two mining operations have been caught up in the wave of redundancies. Some of the workers were sent home not long after turning up to site for their swing this week, while others were back home and received a phone call. Rio declined to comment on the exact number of job losses but confirmed there had been a cull across three sites. “We continually look for ways to align our workforce with ongoing operational requirements to ensure we have the right number of people working in the right roles,” a spokeswoman said. Cutbacks of Rio’s core operational iron ore workforce in WA are a rarity in recent years, given the mining giant still makes a large profit margin on the product it ships to China even when prices are below $US100 a tonne. The spot price is currently at $US104/t. West Angelas cost $1 billion to build more than 20 years ago and has the highest running costs among Rio’s stable of 17 iron ore mines across the Pilbara, according to mining and energy analytics firm Wood Mackenzie. That has been attributed to the operation’s high waste-to-ore ratio of almost four to one. The mine came online in 2002 and the workforce grew to 1000 by the end of that decade. A $579 million expansion of West Angelas was greenlit by the WA Environmental Protection Authority in 2019. Mining at the expanded site is set to start in 2026 after Rio’s Pilbara expansion plans were held up in regulatory limbo following the Juukan Gorge disaster in 2020. The job losses come as the Anglo-Australian miner significantly scales back the proposed size of two other Pilbara iron ore developments, in order to push forward with environmental approvals and keep traditional owners onside. WA’s environmental umpire on Wednesday recommended the Hope Downs 2 and Brockman Syncline proposals be approved by the Environment Minister, with conditions. The development envelope for Hope Downs 2, which encompasses two new mining pits, has reduced by 12 per cent compared to the original 2021 proposal. The Brockman Syncline development envelope has been trimmed even further — down 14 per cent relative to the initial proposal in 2019. Mining exclusion zones have been established at Brockman Syncline to avoid disturbing ghost bat caves and water bodies. “Indirect impacts associated with blasting and vibrations have the potential to impact the structural integrity of retained critical habitat caves and can potentially affect the viability of these caves as critical ghost bat habitat,” the EPA said. Mining exclusion zones will also have to be set up at Hope Downs 2 “to minimise impacts to nine vegetation types, northern quoll habitat, ghost bat caves and Pilbara leaf-nosed bat caves”. “The design of the (Hope Downs 2) proposal has been altered to balance production goals against environmental and cultural values,” according to the EPA. In October, it was revealed Rio had cancelled plans for a new iron ore deposit in the Pilbara as part of its Rhodes Ridge expansion. The mining giant said the move would help save a habitat of ghost bats and reduce resource demand on traditional owner groups. Rio is more than half-way through building its majority-owned $3.1b Western Range mine, which is slated to be the next Pilbara cab off the rank in 2025. Over in the West African country of Guinea, the mining giant is anticipating first cargoes from the mammoth Simandou operation by the end of the same year.