A little over 50 years ago, the first shipment of iron ore was exported from Port Hedland.

Today, BHP is one of a number companies using the port which facilitates in excess of 500 million tonnes of trade and is the largest bulk export terminal in the world.

BHP employs around 2,000 employees and contractors at our Port Hedland operations and supports thousands of families whose businesses and jobs rely on us.

Many of our people and their families live in the Hedland community and are passionate about ensuring Hedland is a wonderful place to live.

For Matt, Manager Port Production, ensuring our operations keep dust levels down is personal.

“My three kids live here, my wife lives here, so I have a vested interest to ensure we’re managing any impact on the communities in which we operate in,” Matt said.

As exports through the Port grow, the continued careful management of dust emissions ensure a strong future for the Hedland community and the industry that supports it.

We have a long history of managing dust from pit to port.  We’ve spent over $400 million and have achieved significant reduction in dust emissions over the past decade.

Julia, Principal Operational Compliance at our Port Operations, believes we’ve made some great improvements in air quality, but we need to continue improving.

“Like with everything you mature. Have we always got it right? No, of course we haven’t. But are we striving to get it right? Yes we are. It’s through that maturity and growth we can make Hedland a wonderful place to live,” Julia said.

On average, 500 million tonnes of trade goes through the port each year, 270 million tonnes of which are BHP’s exports of iron ore (2019).

Despite this, over the last eight years we have seen a significant reduction in dust events.