Pilbara killer triggers Canberra panic

Friday 5 June 2026

As we know, the Pilbara killer (Simandou) is pumping iron ore faster than anyone expected, to 2.2mt in May, suggesting that by year-end it could be in the 30-40mt annual range as locomotives arrive en masse.

The panic is palpable in big miners. Not much iron ore supply gets replaced above $80. We’ve dropped $10 in the last fortnight.

Dirt bludger HQ has more.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.