is loaded onto ships. The 30 kilometre spur line connecting the mine with Rio Tinto's existing railway system was named "Lang Hancock Railway" in honor of Lang Hancock, founder of Hancock Prospecting and discoverer of the iron ore deposit. The mine's workforce is on a fly-in fly-out roster. In 2009, the mine employed 787 people, an increase in comparison to 2008, when it only employed 453. Rio Tinto declared its intention to expand the mine, spending a further A$1.78 billion on the Hope Downs 4 project, scheduled to produce 15 million tonnes of iron ore annually by 2013. In popular culture In June 2018, Australian indie rock band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever named their debut album Hope Downs after the vast mining complex, explaining that it evoked the notion of "standing at the edge of the void of the big unknown, and finding something to hold on to". References External links Rio Tinto Iron Ore website MINEDEX website Database of the Department of Mines and Petroleum Iron ore mines in Western Australia Surface mines in Australia Rio Tinto Iron Ore Hamersley Range Shire of East Pilbara