BHP Cannington is located in remote north-western Queensland. It lies about 800 km south south-west of the tropical coastal city of Townsville, and about 200 km south-east of the famous mining town of Mount Isa. Other towns in the region include Cloncurry and Julia Creek, which are both near Mount Isa. There are no major towns in the area immediately around BHP Cannington.
Because of its remoteness, BHP Cannington is a "fly-in fly-out" operation. This means that mine employees do not live permanently near the mine site. Instead, most of them live in the Townsville - Mt Isa corridor and are flown to and from the mine. The staff directly involved in mining and processing are divided into three crews. Each crew works a 14 day shift, and is then flown home for a 7 day break. Other employees (support and professional staff) work a 9 day shift with a 5 day break. During their shifts mine employees are accommodated in a modern comfortable village close to the mine site.
The accommodation village at Cannington. The mine-site and tailings dam are visible in the background.
BHP Cannington lies within the "Downs Country" of north-west Queensland. The countryside is flat, with rare, low, undulating rises, and occasional small, flat-topped sandstone hills called "mesas".
Typical flat landscape in the downs country near Cannington.
The landscape is crossed by numerous meandering rivers, most of which do not flow permanently. Cannington lies just inside the northern margin of the Lake Eyre Basin; drainage in this basin is to the south, ultimately to Lake Eyre. The Lake Eyre Basin covers more than one million square kilometres (1/6 of Australia), and is about the size of the Murray-Darling Basin. However, in contrast to the Murray-Darling Basin, the Lake Eyre Basin is an inland drainage system. No water flows from the basin to the sea. In fact it is the biggest inland drainage system in the world. It contains some of Australia's most famous rivers, including Cooper's Creek and the Diamantina River. BHP Cannington lies at the confluence (join) between the Hamilton River and Trepell Creek. These rivers are both part of the Lake Eyre Basin. Just a few kilometres to the north of BHP Cannington is a major drainage divide. Drainage to the north of this divide flows towards the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Map of Lake Eyre Basin. Note that Cannington is located near the northern margin of the drainage basin.
Further information about the Lake Eyre Basin is available here.
Vegetation around Cannington is dominated by native grasses although pastoralists have introduced some exotic grass species to improve the feed quality for their stock. Trees (coolabahs, gidgee and others) are sparsely scattered across the grasslands, but grow thickly along rivers and water courses.
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This boulder marks the site of the drill hole that resulted in discovery of the Cannington deposit.The tree in the background is a gidgee tree. |
Typical grasslands, with trees lining a river course in the background. |
Native animals which inhabit the area include over 150 species of birds (for example, black kites, galahs, budgerigars, emus, brolgas and many other), numerous mammals (red kangaroos, rock wallabies, dunnarts), reptiles (snakes and lizards) and frogs in creeks and billabongs. Introduced animals include pigs, foxes, rabbits and cats.
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A bearded dragon on a waste-rock pile. |
Dunnart. |
Kangaroos in the shade of a gidgee tree. |
Apart from mining, the major land use in the district is pastoral, involving grazing of cattle and sheep on the grasslands.
The region experiences a distinct wet season from December to March, and a dry season during the rest of the year. Total annual rainfall is about 262 mm. Temperatures during the wet season are high, particularly in December and January when the annual monthly temperature maxima is 38.5°C for both months.
This graph shows climatic data from Boulia, a tiny settlement about 150 km south west of Cannington. Climatic data for other parts of Australia are available from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
