High-grade hematite ores in the Hamersley Province of Western Australia are associated with hydrothermal magnetite-apatite and magnetite-hematite-carbonateapatite proto-ores below the modern weathering surface. In addition, hydrothermal alteration of country rocks, once believed to be absent, is now recognised widely in shales and dolerites up to several hundreds of metres away from the ores. Both observations appear to exclude a simple supergene model for ugrading the host iron formations to highgrade hematite ore. Similar hydrothermal proto-ores and country rock alteration are now being recognised in other high-grade hematite deposits worldwide, or have been recognised in the past.