Tom Price (By Simon with notes from Nath)

With Tropical Cyclone Quang bearing down on Exmouth we started to travel inland to Tom Price (Rio Tinto Mining Town) and then onto Karijini National Park.

The trip of 570 km was interesting, entering into Hamersley Ranges and the heart of the Pilbura. The earth turns a deep red colour and rocky mountains dominate the landscape (reminded us of some of the trips we did across the US). The last 50km was on unsealed roads and gave us our first taste of corrugations, windrows and red dust (car and camper handled it very well).

The town of Tom Price is small and has a great community feel about it. The town is relatively new and was built by Hamersley Iron to support the Iron Ore mines in the region (a total of 15 mines). Originally it was purely a mining town and you could only live there if you worked in the mines. However, in the 90's the town was sold to the Shire of Ashburton for the price of $1.

We spent our first morning just hanging out in town, the kids visiting the skate park on their scooters, the visitors centre and the library.

In the afternoon we hiked up Mt Nameless (Jarndrunmunhna) which overlooks the town. Reaching the summit is "hard yakka" (that's us having just got to the top) but rewards you with spectacular views over the Hamersley Ranges and the Tom Price town and mine site.

The next day Nath and I went on a tour of the Tom Price Mine which was amazing.

The shear size and scope of the mine is hard to convey but here are a couple of facts that Nath jotted down and incorporated in his journal:

Tom Price Mine:
- Mine site 14km x 8km
- Annual Production 290 million tonnes of Iron Ore.
- Annual Diesel Consumption: 12 million litres.

Kamatsu Haul Trucks:
- 11.8m long, 7.0m wide, 5.7m high.
- Cost $4.5 million each.
- 240 tonne carrying capacity.
- 16 cylinder turbocharged diesel engine generating 2500 hp at approx. 2100RPM.
- Fluid Capacities:
  - 151 litres of engine oil.
  - 303 litres of engine coolant.
  - 4920 litres of diesel fuel.
- 1 tyre weighs 3 tonnes and costs $31,000 (there are 6 on each truck).

Amazing stuff (well, Nath and I think so!).

After the mine tour we left Tom Price and headed for our next stop... Karijini National Park.


Travel Log:
Exmouth to Tom Price: 571 km
Total Trip: 7150 km