Australia’s Rich Iron‑Ore History Australia’s rise to iron‑ore supremacy has been a story of scale, timing, and global demand. Commercial production began in earnest in the 1960s, with the establishment of the Mount Newman and Mount Whaleback mines in the Pilbara region, which laid the foundation for what would become one of the world’s most efficient and prolific iron‑ore industries. The 1970s and 1980s saw steady expansion, as domestic infrastructure, including rail lines a