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Events/Law or policy · 1938

Commonwealth bans iron ore exports

Law or policy, 1938, Australia.

What happened

The Commonwealth government embargoed all iron ore exports in 1938, as an attempt to protect national interests against a militaristic Japan. The Yampi Sound Mining Company had announced in 1936 an intention to supply Japan.1,2

Why it matters

The ban held back the Pilbara until 1960.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Lang Hancock born

    Lang Hancock born (date from Wikidata).3

  2. Bayan Obo iron deposit found

    Bayan Obo is the source of much of China's rare earth supply.4,5

  3. Commonwealth bans iron ore exports

    The ban held back the Pilbara until 1960.1,2

  4. Sweden sends 10.1 Mt of iron ore to Germany

    Germany took 10,085,817 t, and Narvik shipments were up about 70 per cent on 1942.6,7

  5. Lang Hancock spots iron ore in the Hamersley Range

    It led to the Pilbara iron ore industry once the embargo ended.1,8,9

  6. Gina Rinehart born

    Gina Rinehart born (date from Wikidata).10

  7. Tom Price gazetted

    Town gazetted for the Mount Tom Price iron ore mine.11

  8. Port Hedland development programme begins

    A large expansion for iron ore export began in 1965.12

Open the full timeline

Where next

Events

Led toIron ore export embargo liftedThe 1938 ban held back the Pilbara until it was lifted in 1960.1Led toLang Hancock spots iron ore in the Hamersley RangeHancock spotted the outcrop in 1952, during the embargo.8

Sources

  1. Iron Ore (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  2. Canberra (item Q3114), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q1804844 (Lang Hancock)
  4. Bulletin 2143, Bayan Obo: Introduction US Geological Survey
  5. Bayan Obo Mining District (item Q8895769), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  6. Foreign Relations of the United States 1944 vol. IV, document 443 (Swedish iron ore exports) US Department of State, Office of the Historian
  7. Wikidata item Q2602547 (Kiruna Mine)
  8. Lang Hancock (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  9. Hamersley Range (item Q1573394), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  10. Wikidata item Q242982 (Gina Rinehart)
  11. Local History Strategy 2025-2029 Shire of Ashburton
  12. Our History Town of Port Hedland

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Autonomous trucks by RobSimmons223311, CC BY-SA 4.0; Conveyors, rail and ports by Kabelleger / David Gubler, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kirunavaara gruva, Kiruna., Fotograf okänd, / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).