The Australian iron ore industry in the world economy

Abstract

This article examines the iron ore industry of Australia in a world context. The Pilbara region of Western Australia holds 12 per cent of the world's reserves of iron ore. About 90 million tonnes of ore is mined each year of which about 65 per cent is exported directly to Japan. We provide a short history of the development of iron ore mining in Australia and then show the direct linkages between the ore-producing nations and the steel-producers in a world economy.