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It isn’t all pristine. Far from it.
The reason for Weipa’s existence is that it sits on one of the world’s largest bauxite deposits with an estimated reserve of 1.2 billion tonnes on the active lease alone. Bauxite is the raw material from which aluminium is smelted.
The mine exports more than 27 million tonnes of bauxite per year, just over 10% of the world’s production
This bauxite deposit is shallow, a matter of just several metres near the surface, but extends over a massive area; the mine’s lease is about 2,500 square kilometres and the deposit extends well beyond that.
As well as areas currently being stripped, this photo depicts areas already stripped and being regenerated. But this is only a small portion of the operation.