Rio Tinto has chosen FLSmidth to supply key minerals handling equipment for the company’s Koodaideri iron ore project in Western Australia, the mining OEM says.

The contract is a turnkey agreement for the design, supply, installation and commissioning for the new greenfield iron ore mine.

“FLSmidth will provide the products and know-how that will be instrumental in developing the Koodaideri mine to be Rio Tinto’s most technologically-advanced mine to date,” FLSmidth said. “Rio Tinto will for the first time apply smart technology to interconnect all components in the mining value chain. FLSmidth will design the equipment to the latest Australian standards and incorporate smart 3D design and a variety of advanced engineering solutions, such as BulkExpert™ (pictured).

Manfred Schaffer, President, FLSmidth Mining, said: “Koodaideri will set new benchmarks in digitalisation and will feature the most technologically-advanced solutions employed to date in the iron ore sector. This will enable Rio Tinto to run the most advanced mining operation featuring high productivity and high safety in a cost-efficient set-up and we are proud to be part of this.”

Construction at the Koodaideri mine will commence this year with the first ore expected to be fully functional by late 2021, with a production capacity of 43 Mt/y of iron ore.

The exact total contract value for the supply of the equipment won’t be disclosed but is exceeding A$80 million ($56 million) and will be booked in the June quarter, FLSmidth said.