Qualla: Koolan Island

Koolan Island: Introduction

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At its peak, Koolan Island had a golf course with a par-7 hole that doubled as the airstrip. At 790 metres (about 864 yards), it was the world's then-longest golf course hole — which tells you something about how mining companies build towns on remote islands, and something else about what happens when an ore body runs out and the people leave. When BHP finished at Koolan Island in 1994, they had extracted 68 million tonnes of high-grade haematite ore. Then they pumped seven million cubic metres of seawater into the pit, let a marine ecosystem establish itself in the void, and handed the island back to time.

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Koolan Island: An Island Built from Iron

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Koolan Island sits in the Buccaneer Archipelago off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia, about 1,900 kilometres north of Perth and 130 kilometres north of Derby. The island is composed of Paleoproterozoic rock 1,600 to 1,800 million years old — hematitic sandstone and conglo...

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Koolan Island: The Flooded Pit

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By the time BHP finished in 1994, the base of the main pit was 80 metres below sea level. Rather than dewater and seal the pit, the company made an unusual decision: they excavated a channel from the ocean, allowing the sea to fill the void. Seven million cubic metres of seawater...

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Koolan Island: The Seawall Fails

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In 2014, the seawall failed. The pit flooded. The rebuilt seawall and the years of work to re-establish the mining operation had to begin again. By August 2018, dewatering was underway once more. Shipments of iron ore to China recommenced in April 2019. In October 2025, Mount Gi...

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