Locals treated to open day
Hannah and Jake Van Der Veen
Locals were treated to an exclusive tour of the Fortescue rail and port facilities, including a visit to the train unloader last weekend.
Fortescue opened its Port Hedland operations to the Hedland community on the weekend with 165 locals treated to a tour of the company’s facilities.
The tours were hosted by Fortescue’s operations staff, who explained the pit to port process and the equipment involved in this process.
A highlight of the tour for many tour participants was the chance to get up close to a locomotive in the workshop at Fortescue’s Rowley Yard.
While at Anderson Point, the community enjoyed observing first hand the scale of equipment used to transport and load iron ore onto the ships at the wharf.
“At Fortescue, we believe it’s important for the community to share in our journey and judging by the response we had to our inaugural community tours, the people of Hedland want to be part of the Fortescue story too,” said General Manager Port, Gerhard Veldsman.
Fortescue’s General Manager Rail, Ron Dagastino added that this is an exciting time for Fortescue.
“We’re currently undergoing a US$8.4billion infrastructure expansion across our Pilbara operations to increase iron ore production to 155 million tonnes per annum,” he said.
“In a time of rapid growth, information is more important than ever.
“We’re working hard to ensure that our communities are well informed or our operations, milestones and achievements.”
Tour participants enjoyed a barbeque lunch compliments of Fortescue back at the Hedland Senior High School oval, where players and representatives of the Fortescue South Hedland Swans Football Club were busy sizzling sausages and meeting local supporters.
Fortescue’s community team were on site all day to answer any questions about the company’s Community Support program, which provides grants of up to $5,000 and has helped fund over 45 community initiatives in Hedland this financial year.
Tags: Fortescue, hedland, News, Pilbara, pilbaranews
