Tag Archives: GBF

Macmahon expands underground work with Silver Lake Deflector contract

12th February 2021Base metals, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metalscopper, Deflector, GBF, gold, Macmahon Holdings, Michael Finnegan, Silver Lake Resources, Western AustraliaDaniel Gleeson

Macmahon Holdings’ underground mining division has been awarded a four-year contract with Silver Lake Resources to perform the mining works at the Deflector gold-copper mine in Western Australia.

A Macmahon subsidiary, GBF, has been providing underground mining services at the Deflector mine since mining commenced in early 2016. Macmahon acquired 100% of GBF in 2019, and this business is now an important part of the company’s strategy to expand in the underground mining services market, it said.

The company also recently had its stay extended at Silver Lake’s Mount Monger gold operations, in Western Australia.

The contract is a full service mining contract and, therefore, incorporates all underground development, ground support and production activities, including the provision of all labour and mobile mining equipment. Anticipated to run until April 2025, the contract is expected to generate around A$220 million ($170 million) in revenue for the company over this period.

Macmahon’s CEO and Managing Director, Michael Finnegan, said: “This new contract is an important milestone in our strategy to expand our underground business, and is a clear demonstration of the benefits we are now realising from the GBF acquisition.

“Importantly, the Deflector mine is a high-grade gold and copper asset in Western Australia, so is an attractive project in the current macro environment. We look forward to continuing to support the development of Deflector, and to achieving further scale in the underground market.”

Macmahon Holdings books open pit coal and underground gold work

9th December 2020Coal technology, Mine operation news, Mining services, Precious metals, Steel and iron orecontract mining, Foxleigh, GBF, Macmahon Holdings, Michael Finnegan, PantoroDaniel Gleeson

Macmahon Holdings has added another A$270 million ($201 million) of work to its books with the formal award of preferred contractor status at the Foxleigh coal project and a two-year contract extension for its GBF business at Pantoto Ltd’s gold operation.

After being selected as preferred contractor in October, Macmahon’s work at the Foxleigh joint venture operation (pictured) in Queensland, Australia, will commence on March 1. The contractor will provide equipment hire and maintenance services at the open pit, truck and excavator operation in the Bowen Basin, with the contract expected to generate circa-A$250 million of revenue over a five-year term.

The work with Pantoro will see GBF take on additional work at the Wagtail and Nicolsons underground gold operations near Halls Creek in Western Australia. This contract will extend GBF’s tenure at the project to October 2023, and is worth around A$20 million, it said.

Macmahon CEO and Managing Director, Michael Finnegan, said: “The formal award of the Foxleigh project adds A$250 million to our order book and further diversifies and expands our east coast presence. We are now looking forward to building on the relationship with our new client.

“We are also delighted to continue the strong relationship that GBF has built over many years with Pantoro. The contract extension is another important step in our strategy to further expand in the underground market and we remain very well placed to continue growing our underground business.”

Macmahon’s GBF wins contract extension at Silver Lake’s Mount Monger ops

19th February 2020Mine operation news, Mining services, Precious metalsAustralia, contract mining, GBF, Macmahon, Michael Finnegan, Mount Monger, Silver Lake ResourcesDaniel Gleeson

Macmahon Holdings’ acquisition of underground contracting business, GBF Group, is already paying off, with GBF receiving a conditional letter of intent from Silver Lake Resources for further work at the Mount Monger gold operations in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

GBF has been operating at Mount Monger since 2014 and currently provides mining services to the Daisy Complex, Cock-eyed Bob and Maxwells mines, which form part of this operation, expected to produce 120,000-130,000 oz of gold-equivalent in Silver Lake’s 2020 financial year.

Under the new letter of intent, GBF’s tenure at these sites will be extended for three years from March 1, 2020, and GBF will also develop Silver Lake’s new Santa mine, due to commence next month.

GBF estimates the value of the new work with Silver Lake will add around A$200 million ($134 million) to its order book. The two companies will now negotiate the formal mining services agreement, with finalisation expected in March, Macmahon said.

Macmahon CEO and MD, Michael Finnegan, said: “The new work is an important milestone in our strategy to further expand in the underground market, and demonstrates the value in our GBF acquisition. We are looking forward to working closely with Silver Lake on this project and building on our relationship with this key client.”

RCT and GBF reflect on decade-long automation partnership

4th June 2019Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining softwareAlan Moyle, automation, Brendon Cullen, Cat, ControlMaster, G-Dash, GBF, Guidance Automation, RCT, SandvikDaniel Gleeson

RCT and underground mining specialist, GBF, have marked 10 years of working together to implement autonomous technology into underground mining operations.

Since 2009, when GBF & RCT conducted underground trials of the ControlMaster® Guidance Automation system at Gold Fields Caves Rock mining operations, RCT has delivered 19 autonomous systems including Sandvik LH203s, CAT 2900Gs, R1700s, R1700Gs and R1300Gs at multiple GBF-run mine sites throughout Western Australia’s Goldfields, according to RCT.

The work collectively amounts to roughly 15,000 hours of machines operating on Guidance Automation within GBF-run operations.

“ControlMaster Guidance Automation has seen numerous software iterations over its product life starting with dynamic operator engagement, surface control to independent autonomous tramming and, more recently, multi machine control via RCT’s latest automation offering,” RCT said.

GBF Maintenance Superintendent Alan Moyle, who played a key role in the initial trials and has seen the Guidance Automation system evolve over the last 10 years, said RCT’s technology has significantly improved safe machine operations by removing personnel from the mine face as well as better operator fatigue control.

“Greater control features have reduced the amount of machine damage due to operator errors with consistent machine cycles enabling us to improve productivity and it provides us data when tendering for new contracts,” he said

“RCT have also provided multiple opportunities for GBF apprentices to gain experience with their latest modern technology which they have subsequently applied to their work.”

RCT Product Manager Automation & Control, Brendon Cullen, said GBF’s early adoption of RCT’s technology meant its operations have benefitted consistently as the product has evolved.

“GBF has been influential in driving features and improvements to the system over time and develop new features such as G-Dash which empower operator’s decision making by presenting a dashboard of the machinery in relation to its surrounding in real time,” he said

“GBF’s operators have also consistently provided feedback over time, resulting in improvements such as faster tramming times, better cornering speeds, more efficient braking and the evolution of the fully automated tramming cycle.

“As the mines are becoming deeper the drive to operate the machinery from the surface is becoming a key requirement to maximise production times. RCT continues to work in partnership with GBF to allow them to reach their goals as cost efficiently as possible using the technology available onsite at the time.”