Author(s)

I.E. Everett

Abstract

Iron ore is shipped out in large quantities from northern West Australian ports. The ore is railed to the port, stock piled and then loaded on to ships. Customers require that successive shipments are uniform in composition, with respect to several elements, including iron, silicon, aluminium and calcium. Variability in composition can be smoothed out by stacking the arriving ore onto large stock piles, which are recovered for shipment. With random stacking and recovery from a single stock pile, improved variability requires larger stock piles, and/or increased handling of the ore. Both these involve environmental costs as well as economic costs. The larger the stock piles and the greater the amount of rehandling, the greater the resulting dust pollution and land degradation. This paper shows how t

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