Notable case, Wittenoom (Pilbara), Western Australia, Australia
Wittenoom
Ngambigunha
A mining town in the Pilbara where crocidolite, blue asbestos, was mined from 1943 to 1966. More than 2,000 of the roughly 20,000 people who worked or lived there have died of asbestos-related disease; at 46,840 hectares it is among Australia's largest contaminated sites.
At a glance
- Status
- Abandoned
- Area
- 46,840 ha on land1
- Activity
- 1943–1966
- People affected
- 20,000 (2024)2
- Media
- soil, air, sediment
- Kind of site
- asbestos, mining
- Area. Contaminated area of 46,840 hectares according to the Wikipedia entry read in 2026; the site has been classified as contaminated since 28 January 2008.
- People affected. About 20,000 former mine workers and residents in all; more than 2,000 deaths from asbestos-related disease as of 2024 (Wikipedia).
Contaminants
Fibres
Status
Abandoned
The town was removed from official maps in June 2007 and closed by law in 2022; the last resident was removed in September 2022 and the remaining buildings have been demolished since May 2023. The asbestos tailings piles in the gorges have not been remediated. In February 2026 the Banjima native title holders began a Federal Court claim for more than 1.5 billion Australian dollars in remediation and damages (Wikipedia).
Story
The deposit in Wittenoom Gorge, in the Hamersley Range, was identified by Lang Hancock in 1937. Large-scale mining began between 1941 and 1943 in nearby Yampire Gorge and then moved to Wittenoom, where from 1943 the operator was Australian Blue Asbestos, controlled by the CSR group. The company town was founded in 1947 and reached 881 residents in 1961. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s it was Australia's only source of blue asbestos.
The mine closed in 1966, because it no longer paid and because of health concerns. The fibre-rich tailings had been used in the town for roads, yards and playgrounds, and large piles were left in the gorges, where rain washes them downstream.
From 1978 the Western Australian government chose to empty the town rather than clean it up: by 1979 a hundred residents were left. A contamination assessment was completed in 2006, the town was degazetted in 2007 and the site classified as contaminated in 2008. The closure act of 24 March 2022 allowed the compulsory acquisition of the last 14 private properties.
Timeline
- 1943Australian Blue Asbestos (CSR) takes over the mining.
- 1947The company town is founded.
- 1966The mine closes.
- 2007June: Wittenoom is degazetted as a town.
- 200828 January: classified as a contaminated site.
- 202224 March: the closure act is passed. September: the last resident is removed.
- 2023May: demolition of the remaining buildings begins.
- 2026February: the Banjima file a Federal Court claim for remediation and damages.
Health
As of 2024 more than 2,000 of the roughly 20,000 former mine workers and residents had died of asbestos-related diseases (Wikipedia).
Remediation
- 2022town closure and demolitionCompulsory acquisition of the last properties, removal of residents and demolition of buildings (from May 2023). The tailings piles have not been touched.
Sources
- Wittenoom, Western Australia, Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.