What this place is
The Pilbara moves more tonnage than any other mining district on the planet, on private heavy-haul railways running to purpose-built ports. It is the physical backbone of Asian steelmaking.
Grade. Direct-shipping hematite that needs crushing and screening but no concentration.
“Grade” is the percentage of the useful stuff in the rock. A copper mine at 0.5% grade throws away 199 tonnes of rock for every tonne of copper it sells. That single number decides whether an orebody is a mine or just an interesting piece of geology.
What comes out
A “by-product” is a metal recovered because it happens to be in the same rock, not because anyone went looking for it. Its supply therefore follows the primary metal’s economics, not its own.
Who owns it
As publicly reported by the operators. Ownership of large mines changes; verify against current company filings before relying on it.
