Tom Price – 19 May 2010

From Exmouth we drove to Tom Price  located in the Pilbara, near the Hamersly Range. The Pilbara is the heart of Australia’s iron ore mining and  Tom Price is a key mine, owned by Rio Tinto. 

The town was named after Thomas Moore Price, Vice President of Kaiser Steel who played a major role in opening up the area.

He is reputed to have said he would take the dust from Tom Price as it was so rich in iron. Tom Price is the most affluent non metropolitan area in Australia as the miners are paid so well.

In common with all mining towns there is a nice caravan park with good water and grassy, shady sites at the foot of Mt. Nameless.   Mt. Nameless is “the highest 4wd accessible mountain” in Western Australia. 

Tom Price is the gateway to the Karijini National Park and we went on to Karijini to meet our friends Bill and Jane from Melbourne.  We all returned to do a mine tour of Tom Price mine run by Lestok Tours.