Welcome to the Pilbara, money pit, engine room of Australia's prosperity and magnet to thousands of footloose men and women chasing serious pay for hard work.
Thousands more fly in to work two or three week bursts before flying out again, all cashed up.
But the town at the epicentre of the boom, Port Hedland, fears it's being lost in the rush. While the ore goes north to Asia, the profits head south and east as everyone takes the money and runs.
Milked by miners, treasuries and a transient, unsentimental workforce, Hedland has been trampled in a stampede that no one seems to have planned for.
House prices and rents have exploded. "This is my home town and I can't find accommodation," says Dave, who holds a job but lives at the homeless shelter. Other workers sleep in cars or tents.
Schools and health services are stretched and community facilities are scarce. Town leaders worry about a creeping soullessness as gaps widen between winners and losers.
"The heat, the flies, there's nothing here, there's no infrastructure here. I think it's a terrible place," complains Millie who lives in the caravan park. When reporter Matt Carney asks a bloke in the single persons' quarters what he likes about Hedland, he gets a blunt reply: "Money mate, not a lot else here."
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