Tom Price WA 6751

Tom Price is an iron mining town in the Pilbara region, 1458 kilometres north northeast of Perth and 89 kilometres north of Paraburdoo. Following the discovery and development of the iron mining industry in this area in the 1960s, a private townsite named Tom Price was established by Rio Tinto Southern Pty Ltd. It was officially named Tom Price Townsite in 1967, but was not a gazetted townsite until 1985. The townsite derives its name from Mount Tom Price, a mountain in the Hamersley Range named in 1962. The name Mount Tom Price was proposed by Rio Tinto Southern Pty Ltd after the late Mr Tom Price, a colleague of theirs who was involved in iron ore negotiations with the Premier of Western Australia in 1961. Mr Price was highly regarded and played an important role in the eraly development of the iron mining industry in the Pilbara.