thyssenkrupp is celebrating the first ore aboard a new stacker at the bulk handling facilities of Rio Tinto’s East Intercourse Island (EII), in the Port of Dampier, Western Australia.

The engineering company confirmed this week that “Stacker ST1EN” had reached the iron ore milestone at the project, which involves the manufacture, installation and commissioning of three replacement stackers and associated equipment as part of an almost A$70 million ($39.8 million) upgrade.

When the upgrade was announced back in August 2017, Rio said design and fabrication work was expected to commence in 2018, with installation and commissioning anticipated in late 2020.

Rio also said at the time that thyssenkrupp Australia would manufacture, assemble and fabricate the stackers required for the refurbishment before transporting the 1,860 t of stacker weight to the Pilbara.