CLEARED mining areas are evident as you approach Weipa, where the sudden appearance of traffic lights might be a bit startling… and the last thing you would expect after long distances behind the wheel. After all, Weipa is situated at the end of the Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR), some 850km north of Cairns. You had better stop on a red signal though, as 110-tonne loaded scrapers travel along this stretch at 60 clicks. A Nissan Patrol that had been run over by one of these behemoths at Mount Isa and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
WEIPA HISTORY AND FACILITIES
WEIPA has a population of 3000 and was founded on rich deposits of bauxite, the raw material for aluminium. Mining has been ongoing here since 1962 and will continue to thrive for many more years, with more than 3.5 billion tonnes of ore remaining unmined. The mining is performed by clearing the monsoon woodlands and the topsoil from the underlying two-metre-thick deposits, scooping up the ore with scrapers and bulldozers, and washing and shipping it to smelters at Gladstone in massive ore carriers. The topsoil is then returned
