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Events/Law or policy · 1960

Iron ore export embargo lifted

Law or policy, 1960, Australia.

What happened

The Commonwealth lifted the iron ore export embargo in 1960. Hancock then worked to attract national and international interest in the Pilbara. In 1963 he and Peter Wright signed a royalty deal of 2.5 per cent of the value of ore mined with Hamersley Iron.1,2,3

Why it matters

It opened the way for Mount Tom Price, Mount Newman and later Pilbara mines.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Commonwealth bans iron ore exports

    The ban held back the Pilbara until 1960.2,3

  2. Vale founded

    Vale founded.4

  3. 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 1942.5,6

  4. Gina Rinehart born

    Gina Rinehart born (date from Wikidata).7

  5. Iron ore export embargo lifted

    It opened the way for Mount Tom Price, Mount Newman and later Pilbara mines.1,2,3

  6. Tom Price gazetted

    Town gazetted for the Mount Tom Price iron ore mine.8

  7. Mount Newman railway is built in 21 months

    The 426 km line used 870,000 sleepers and 25 bridges.9,10

  8. Mount Newman railway opens

    Mount Newman railway opens.11

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

Partner ofPeter Wright (Pilbara)In 1963 he and Lang Hancock signed a royalty deal with Hamersley Iron.1Led byLang HancockLang Hancock is part of this story: Iron ore export embargo lifted.1

Mines

Led toHamersley Mines - Mount Tom PriceMount Tom Price began in 1966, the first of Hamersley Iron's mines.12Led toMount NewmanProduction began at Mt Whaleback in 1969 under the Mount Newman agreement.13

Events

Came out ofCommonwealth bans iron ore exportsThe 1938 ban held back the Pilbara until it was lifted in 1960.2Came out ofLang Hancock spots iron ore in the Hamersley RangeHancock's 1952 find had to wait for the embargo to end in 1960.1

Sources

  1. Lang Hancock (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  2. Iron Ore (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  3. Canberra (item Q3114), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Wikidata item Q583268 (Vale founded)
  5. Foreign Relations of the United States 1944 vol. IV, document 443 (Swedish iron ore exports) US Department of State, Office of the Historian
  6. Wikidata item Q2602547 (Kiruna Mine)
  7. Wikidata item Q242982 (Gina Rinehart)
  8. Local History Strategy 2025-2029 Shire of Ashburton
  9. Railway Line from Port Hedland to Newman (place record) Heritage Council of Western Australia (inHerit)
  10. Wikidata item Q610345 (Mount Whaleback mine)
  11. Wikidata item Q6922402 (Mount Newman railway opens)
  12. Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2025 Rio Tinto (SEC)
  13. Form 20-F for the year ended 30 June 2026 BHP Group (SEC)

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).