Iron ore exports | National Museum of Australia
Iron ore in Australia. Iron ore was first mined in Australia at Iron Knob, South Australia, by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) in the late 1890s to be used as flux in its Port Pirie lead smelters. The ore turned out to be of such high quality (close to 60 per cent purity) that BHP decided to create its own steel manufacturing plants, first at Newcastle and then Port Kembla. Iron ore ...