Map - Cockatoo Island (Western Australia) (Cockatoo Island)

Cockatoo Island  (Cockatoo Island)
Cockatoo Island is an island in the Buccaneer Archipelago off the coast of Western Australia near the town of Derby. It was mined for iron ore by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company from 1951 until 1984. Koolan Island is a neighbouring island that was also mined by BHP for high grade iron ore. It was most recently mined by Perth-based mining company, Pluton Resources until the company was placed under administration in September 2015.

The ironstone of Cockatoo Island was known to pearl luggers in the 1880s, who used it as ballast on their voyages. Australian Iron & Steel acquired leases to the island's mineral deposits in 1928. That company became a subsidiary of Broken Hill Proprietary Company, in 1935, bringing with it the leases. The island was first surveyed in 1930, then again more comprehensively in 1936. The island was evacuated with the outbreak of World War II and work on the deposit did not resume until 1944.

By October 1945 over 100 men were employed on Cockatoo Island and work was underway laying a foundation for the processing plant, building a jetty and layout the township. Iron ore mining began in 1951. The first shipment of iron ore from the island was made in the vessel Iron Yampi, which was purpose-built at the Whyalla shipyard. It was one of a fleet of four bulk-carriers built to transport the ore for smelting at Australian steelworks. The Iron Kimberley was another of them.

In 1952, the island's population numbered 150. By 1954, the mine was capable of shipping up to 2 million tonnes of iron ore annually. The townsite established by BHP contained a school, movie theatre, and even a lockup prison. BHP continued to operate the mine and manage the township until 1984 when the ore body had been mined down to sea level.

During the 1980s businessman Alan Bond and wife, Eileen Bond, opened a tourist resort using the old mining village's infrastructure. The resort was closed and sold to HWE Mining who provided the chalets for their workers to use. HWE Mining and Portman Mining Ltd re-opened operations in the 1990s by first retreating waste-rock from old BHP dumps, then forming a seawall and commencing mining below sea level.

In the 21st century, Perth-based company Pluton Resources mined there, until the company entered administration in September 2015.

In 2020, Cockatoo Island Mining Pty Ltd whose directors reside in Australia, India, Hong Kong, and mainland China, was granted a lease for the island until 2032, after consideration by the Foreign Investment Review Board. Concern was expressed by Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells among others that this lease was near the mainland Yampi Sound Training Area used by the Australian Defence Force.

 
Map - Cockatoo Island  (Cockatoo Island)
Country - Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7617930 km2, Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
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