Outotec says it has been awarded a contract to design and deliver a mine paste backfill system to OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill copper-gold mine, in South Australia.

The contract price is €15 million ($16.5 million) and it has been booked into Outotec’s 2019 June quarter order intake, the mineral processing company said.

Outotec’s supply includes the design and delivery of a complete paste backfill system, as well as detailed design of the underground distribution network and fill management systems, it said.

The new paste backfill plant will be based on a unique process design, which allows flexibility to use continuously produced fresh tailings or store filter cake to meet the future backfill needs of the underground mining operation, Outotec said. The new facility is expected to have a capacity of 215 m³/h.

“A reliable paste backfill system is critical to the whole mine and its operations. We are pleased to support our customer to improve their tailings management in a sustainable way,” Kimmo Kontola, Head of Outotec Minerals Processing Business, said.

Prominent Hill is a copper-gold mining operation made up of the Malu open-pit mine – which concluded operations last year – the Ankata and Malu underground deposits and a conventional crushing, grinding and flotation processing plant.

Outotec has previously delivered an EPC backfill system, plus build own operate backfill plant for ongoing operation at Prominent Hill.