Iron Knob

Iron Knob is located 68 kilometres Southwest of Port Augusta, and 90 kilometres East of Kimba on the Eyre Highway.

History

BHP worked the mining lease for 100 years from 1899 and 100 years of mining certainly left a mark with the height of Iron Knob Hill being reduced by more than 150 metres. Arrium Mining and Materials now mines the ore from Iron Knob. For the traveller Iron Knob may not be the most scenic of towns, but it certainly is a town of historic significance.

Iron ore was originally mined from Iron Knob for use as flux in the copper smelting industry. The iron ore was of such high quality that it started an iron smelting industry and resulted in Iron Knob being known as the birthplace of the steel industry in Australia. It gets its name for the fact that it has a large amount of iron ore and was a major contributor to Australia's iron industry. Between 1900 and 1911 over 600,000 tons of ore was shipped to Port Pirie. The ore from Iron Knob has an exceptionally high metallic content, as rich as 68 -69% by comparison with 30% in England, 50-55% in the U.S.A and 36% in Luxemburg and Lorraine.