Thieves Make Off With $1.4M Worth of Bronze Propellers at WA Storage Yard

One tug owner in Western Australia is facing a significant insurance claim, reports ABC. Sometime over the southern-hemisphere winter, someone broke into a storage yard near Dampier and stole a set of very expensive tug propellers, with a total value in the millions.

According to the WA Police Force, thieves appear to have made off with four tug propellers made of a high-spec bronze-nickel alloy from a yard on the remote Burrup Peninsula. The timeline of the theft is quite uncertain: it is believed to have occurred sometime between December 2025 and late May 2026. The owner did not report them missing until last month.

The authorities believe that the suspects likely brought in heavy equipment to remove the goods, since the propellers weigh about two tonnes each. The $1.4 million consignment disappeared along with the storage racks used for shipping.

The likely fate of the propellers is for a scrapyard. The alloy is high in copper, and the current boom market for the conductive metal - which is much in demand for electrical and electronic equipment - is driving a rash of copper theft across the continent. Current pricing in the Australian market runs at about US$14 per kilo for unadulterated copper, and measures to reduce buying at the point of purchase have had limited traction. Scrap metal theft has a comparatively low priority for enforcement when there are other, more serious crimes to be dealt with.

At a small scale, the crime is often linked to drug consumption, and specifically methamphetamine. Australia has the world's largest per-capita methamphetamine market. Organized heists may be conducted systematically by larger gangs.