Kimberley Mineral Sands, the Sheffield Resources and Yansteel joint venture steering the Thunderbird mineral sands project in Western Australia, has awarded Piacentini & Son Pty Ltd a nine-year mining services contract the project.

The agreement, which could be extended by a further five years following the initial contracting period, builds on Piacenti’s work delivering three dozer mining units to the Coburn mineral sands project, also in Western Australia.

In accordance with the latest agreement, Piacentini shall provide a Mining Unit Plant (MUP) to support Thunderbird and undertake mining activities using all necessary heavy mobile equipment to excavate and deliver ore to the MUP in a dozer push ore mining operation, ahead of delivering processed materials to the Wet Concentrator Plant, Sheffield Resources said.

Piacentini, Sheffield says, is a very experienced mineral sands mining contractor and has supported a range of mining companies, in mineral sands and other commodities, in Australia and overseas for over 40 years.

Sheffield Resources Executive Chair, Bruce Griffin, said: “The award of the mining services contract to mining services operator Piacentini & Son Pty Ltd is one of the final remaining commercial steps to completing the project financing arrangements for Thunderbird and we look forward to Kimberley Mineral Sands and Piacentini establishing a long and successful partnership as we bring the world-class Thunderbird Mineral Sands Project into production in the near future.”

The Coburn definitive feasibility study, released in June 2020, outlined a mine life of 22.5 years at a mining rate of 23.4 Mt/y.