Boodarie Grazer

Boodarie Residue Impoundment Rehabilitation Project

BHP’s focus on tailings storage facility (TSF) safety and commitment to creating economic development opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities continues with the awarding of a multi million dollar contract in December 2021 to Eastern Guruma Pty Ltd, a 100 per cent Indigenous–owned company. The contract was for earthworks and rehabilitation to progress closure of the Boodarie Residue Impoundment (RSI) TSF, located approximately 9.5 kilometres southwest of Port Hedland in Western Australia on Kariyarra Country. 

The Boodarie RSI facility commenced operation in 1997 and received tailings from the nearby Hot Briquetted Iron plant facilities until its closure in 2004. From 2009 to 2012, most of the tailings stored within the RSI TSF were removed and shipped overseas for reprocessing. This enabled the Boodarie RSI Rehabilitation Project to progress TSF closure. By January 2023 remnant tailings were capped and existing earthen embankments demolished, with the material used as fill to contour the area, in doing so eliminating all TSF failure modes. The site was rehabilitated by treating the soil, preparing the surface, and seeding vegetation.