TOM PRICE

mining town, northwestern Western Australia, in the Hamersley Range area near Mount Tom Price, the site of major high-grade deposits of hematite. The town was constructed during 196566 by Hamersley Iron Proprietary Ltd. as the residential and service centre for workers at the huge open-cut iron-ore mine at Mount Tom Price. The town and the mountain are named after Thomas Moore Price, a vice president of Kaiser Steel Ltd., who encouraged mining development in the Hamersley Range. In the late 20th century millions of tons of iron ore were sent by rail annually 180 miles (290 km) to the deep-sea port of Dampier for shipment, mainly to Japan and the United States. Pop. (1986) 3,435.