DRA Global says it has been selected by Sojitz as the preferred partner for the restart and operations and maintenance of the Gregory Crinum metallurgical coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, Australia.
Sojitz Coal Mining announced, this week, that it has officially taken ownership of Gregory Crinum, near Emerald in Central Queensland, from BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture partners BHP and Mitsubishi Development. This followed a A$100 million ($71 million) agreement the companies signed last year.
Cameron Vorias, CEO and Managing Director of Sojitz Coal Mining, said: “Recommencement of mining operations at Gregory Crinum will deliver significant benefits to all our stakeholders in addition to ensuring security of supply of hard coking coal to our valued customers, as well as providing jobs and strengthening the economy for the people in the Emerald, Springsure and Cappella Area and the State of Queensland.”
Vorias said DRA offered the best solutions in relation to the refurbishment of the processing plant and the overall operations and maintenance philosophy, and “providing true integrated maintenance through their wholly-owned maintenance business G&S Engineering”.
DRA Global acquired G&S Engineering in July, as the company looked to expand its footprint and project execution capabilities in Australia.
The restart of Gregory Crinum will be delivered in two stages with the first stage focusing on the refurbishment of the processing plant followed by the full operations and maintenance contract of the processing plant for the next three years.
Sojitz said previously that the mine will have an annual capacity of up to 3 Mt/y when fully operational, with a life of more than 20 years. It also said restart operations would begin in the first half of its 2019 financial year, with the first shipment of coal in the second half of the year.
The site comprises the Crinum underground mine, Gregory open-pit mine, undeveloped coal resources and on-site infrastructure including a coal handling and preparation plant, maintenance workshops and administration facilities.
Gregory Crinum Mine’s capacity was 6 Mt/y of hard coking coal when production ceased and it was placed into care and maintenance in January 2016.