Tag Archives: Pilbara

Aqura to keep comms and entertainment running for BHP Pilbara workers

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Specialised ICT and communications provider, Aqura Technologies, has signed a multi-year service contract with BHP that will see it provide managed support for all in-room communications and entertainment system services across the miner’s accommodation villages in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

Aqura, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASX-listed Veris Ltd, announced the BHP contract at the same time as reporting on a similar multi-year agreement with structures, logistics, utilities and energy company, ATCO.

“These contracts continue to demonstrate the execution of Aqura’s strategy to evolve its earnings base with the addition of recurring revenue models, which complement the business’ traditional project execution focus,” Veris said. “The new contract awards expand Aqura’s business model into new markets and evolve the business’ product offering towards a recurring opex ‘as a service’ model to its diverse customer base.”

The three-year agreement is with BHP’s Western Australian Iron Ore business unit, with the contract having already commenced, Veris said.

Karl Paganin, Veris’ Chairman, said: “Securing these contracts with blue-chip customers like BHP and ATCO reflects the continued success in delivering Aqura’s strategy of building our opex-friendly solutions. These provide flexibility for customers to engage with Aqura in a more commercially attractive manner.”

Back in August 2019, BHP opened its upgraded and expanded Mulla Mulla accommodation village (pictured) in the Pilbara, which is expected to accommodate up to 2,500 construction workers for its in-development South Flank iron ore project.

Scott Automation kicks off Koodaideri automated lab construction

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Building work on the Koodaideri automated mine site laboratory in the Pilbara of Western Australia has commenced with site mobilisation now underway, according to Scott Automation.

The company, which was awarded a contract by Rio Tinto to design and build the laboratory back in February, said this important milestone was reached on time, despite COVID-19 restrictions.

“A number of Scott’s design and build activities for the Rio project have been moved to the company’s Australian operations to be closer to the customer,” it added.

The automation and robotics solutions provider’s contract involves the building construction and equipment supply for the robotic sample preparation and analysis laboratory, it said.

The project will be undertaken across multiple Scott manufacturing sites and is scheduled to be installed by mid-2021.

In April, Scott contracted Kerman Contracting for the civil and concrete works, as well as the structural, hydraulic, electrical/communication works and fire protection at the site. The supply, installation and commissioning of robotics equipment are all being undertaken by Scott.

Koodaideri, billed by Rio as an “intelligent mine”, will deliver a new production hub for Rio’s iron ore business in the Pilbara, incorporating a processing plant and infrastructure including a 166 km rail line connecting the mine to the existing network.

Construction on Koodaideri Phase 1 started in 2019 with first production expected in late 2021. Once complete, the mine will have an annual capacity of 43 Mt, underpinning production of the company’s flagship iron ore product, Pilbara Blend.

Civmec to build foundations for key Iron Bridge processing equipment

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Civmec’s Metals and Minerals division has been awarded a standalone civil contract to build the structural concrete components for the dry plant at the jointly-owned Iron Bridge magnetite project in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The “Dry Plant Detailed Earthworks and Concrete” package was awarded by the owners of the project, Fortescue Metals Group subsidiary, FMG Iron Bridge Ltd, and Formosa Steel IB.

The project will see a new magnetite mine developed to support production of 22 Mt/y of high grade, magnetite concentrate product.

Civmec’s scope includes constructing the structural concrete components for the primary, secondary and tertiary crushing areas, screening areas, air classification and primary grinding areas, course ore stockpile, dry rejects, conveyors and all related earthing. It will involve over 350,000 cu.m of earthworks, the fixing of some 5,000 tons (4,536 t) of steel reinforcement and the placement of around 38,000 cu.m of concrete.

These works will employ over 200 of Civmec’s skilled workforce at peak, plus a commitment to engage with Local Aboriginal Enterprises, Civmec said, adding that the works will commence immediately with an expected completion in the March quarter of 2022.

Civmec’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Tallon, said: “Through our current delivery of works for Fortescue in the Pilbara, we have formed a strong working relationship built on transparency, trust and collaboration and reliable execution. Hence, we are extremely pleased to be given this further opportunity to continue to work with Fortescue on the Iron Bridge project.

“This is an exciting project of a very significant scale with a declared value for the overall project being $2.6 billion. The Iron Bridge joint venture has demonstrated and refined each step of the magnetite ore processing system and conducted full-scale trials to ensure the effectiveness of the process and gain confidence in the overall project success.”

This most recent contract award, combined with some other recent awards and scope increases on existing contracts, take the group’s current order book to circa-A$901 million ($625 million).

MACA to become contract miner at Atlas Iron’s Corunna Downs mine

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MACA is to carry out open-pit mining at the Corunna Downs iron ore project in the Pilbara of Western Australia following a contract award from owner Atlas Iron.

The contract follows an agreement between the two to upgrade an existing public road and develop an access road at Corunna Downs, announced earlier this year.

The project, some 33 km south of Marble Bar in the Pilbara, will see Atlas develop five open pits using conventional drill and blast, and load and haul methods. Some 23.3 Mt of iron ore will be mined above the water table over an approximate timeframe of six years, according to a filing with the Environmental Protection Authority.

MACA will carry out the drilling and blasting, and loading and hauling as part of the new pact, which is expected to generate around A$230 million ($159 million) in revenue for MACA over the 62-month term.

MACA says it has a long-standing working relationship with Atlas having previously provided services at the Pardoo, Mt Dove, Abydos and Wodgina iron ore operations. It is also currently providing crushing services for Atlas at its Mount Webber iron ore mine on top of the civil works at Corunna Downs.

The contractor’s total work in hand position now stands at A$2.2 billion, it said.

MACA CEO, Mike Sutton, said: “We are pleased to have been selected as the contract miner for Atlas building on our workload in the iron ore sector with an existing client. We look forward to being part of the successful development of this project.”

Fortescue engages John Holland for rail work at Eliwana iron ore project

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Australia-based infrastructure and rail company, John Holland, has secured a A$130 million ($90 million) contract with Fortescue Metals Group to construct 143 km of railway tracks and signalling at its Eliwana iron ore project in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The track construction works will connect the new Eliwana Rail Line to the existing Fortescue Hamersley Line to Port Hedland, with the engagement seeing John Holland manage a newly upgraded rail welding facility in Port Hedland as well as the design, construct and integration of the signalling and train control systems.

The company will also procure and manufacture the signalling system wayside equipment from its Canning Vale fabrication warehouse and complete all civil and electrical installations of the wayside signalling systems on site, it said.

In line with this contract award and others in Western Australia, John Holland says it is looking to recruit 400 new workers across its Western Australian projects.

It currently employs more than 5,000 people across its construction, tunnelling, rail and building projects in Australia, and strengthened its rail, engineering and construction capacity after it acquired RCR O’Donnell Griffin’s rail business – saving 400 jobs in the process.

John Holland Operations Manager, Rob Hennessy, said the Western Australia team was very proud to bring this solution to market for Fortescue.

“It has been a goal of the WA rail team to bid for more integrated projects in the WA market and we are pleased to partner with Fortescue and play a significant part in a world-class iron ore project,” he said.

“John Holland is a major Australian employer and continues to honour its 70-year history of contribution to the local community.”

Once completed, the $1.275 billion Eliwana project, which also includes the building of a 30 Mt/y ore processing facility, will maintain Fortescue’s overall production rate of a minimum 170 Mt/y over 20 years, the company said.

CSI and Metso’s NextGen crushing plant to go to BHP Mt Whaleback mine

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CSI Mining Services (CSI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mineral Resources Limited, has been awarded a milestone contract to design, construct and operate the latest “NextGen” crushing plant at BHP’s Mt Whaleback iron ore mining operation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The contract award includes the supply, construction, installation and operation of CSI’s NextGen crushing plant, which will replace the existing CSI crushing plant at Mt Whaleback. This new scope builds on a 13-year working relationship with BHP and allows CSI to extend its history of safe and successful operations on the site since 2012, CSI said.

BHP has an option to extend the initial five-year 12 Mt/y contract for a further two years, according to the company.

Back in November, Mineral Resources Ltd told investors at its annual general meeting that it had designed a 15 Mt/y capacity portable crushing plant and planned to develop it in joint venture with Metso.

The NextGen crushing and screening plant was expected to come with low capital and operating costs, in addition to significant flexibility with its portability. It is assembled in modules and, compared with fixed crushing plants, provides for sustained reliable performance over time with the flexibility required to meet clients’ changing and challenging production demands, according to CSI.

CSI and Metso have established a partnership to develop and market the NextGen plant worldwide, CSI said.

Mineral Resources Chief Operating Officer, Mike Grey, said: “This contract extension and expansion at Mt Whaleback is a tribute to the fantastic work CSI has been providing for one of our key blue-chip clients for many years now. It is also testament to our team for the innovation and customer focus they have built into the NextGen design.

“We look forward to the successful construction, installation and commissioning of the new plant at Mt Whaleback and are confident this will be the first of many opportunities for this ground-breaking approach to deliver safe, reliable production for the hard-rock crushing industry.”

He added: “CSI is already the world’s largest crushing contractor and NextGen will help us maintain our position as the partner of choice for the mining industry.”

CSI will oversee construction of the NextGen plant modules, both in Turkey and at its Kwinana, Western Australia workshop, with assembly of the plant completed on site at Mt Whaleback.

Capricorn Metals secures gas power for Karlawinda gold project

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Capricorn Metals says it has entered into agreements with APA Group for the transportation of gas from the Goldfields Gas Pipeline (GGP) to the Karlawinda gold project, in Western Australia.

As part of the agreement, APA will also build, own and operate the lateral pipeline that links the GGP to Karlawinda. It is expected that some 3 Tj/d of gas will be transported through the pipeline for power generation at Karlawinda.

Capricorn has also recently executed a power supply agreement with Pacific Energy subsidiary Contract Power Australia where, under the terms of the agreement, Contract Power will build, own and operate a 16 MW gas-fuelled power station with 2 MW of diesel back-up at Karlawinda.

Based on a 1.2 Moz reserve, Capricorn envisages a 12-year mine life at Karlawinda, with an annual production target of 105,000-120,000 oz of gold. The company plans to mine a single large, low strip ratio open pit and use a 3.5-4.0 Mt/y carbon-in-leach processing plant.

Development of the project is underway, with commissioning expected in the March quarter of 2021.

Capricorn Executive Chairman, Mark Clark, said: “We look forward to a successful long-term partnership with these high-quality companies to meet our energy requirements. The completion of these contracts, combined with the current low price of gas in Western Australia, present Capricorn with a very attractive cost of power generation for the operation of the Karlawinda project.”

Fortescue celebrates 100th autonomous haul truck conversion at Chichester Hub

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Fortescue Metals Group has celebrated an important milestone in the rollout of autonomous haulage technology at its Chichester Hub operations, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, with the conversion of its 100th autonomous truck.

The full conversion of 108 haul trucks at the Chichester Hub, which comprises the Christmas Creek and Cloudbreak mines, is expected to be completed in September 2020, it said.

Since the introduction of Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) technology at Fortescue in 2012, 168 trucks have been converted across the company’s Solomon and Chichester Hubs. This has seen Fortescue’s autonomous haul fleet move around 1,400 Mt of material and achieve a greater than 30% increase in productivity levels (compared with previous manned fleets), it said.

Fortescue Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Gaines, said: “Fortescue’s AHS deployment represents the largest fleet conversion to autonomous haulage in the industry.

“Our history of embracing leading-edge technology has ensured Fortescue remains at the lowest end of the global cost curve and remains fundamental to driving sustained productivity and efficiency improvements across our business to ensure we continue to deliver enhanced returns for our shareholders and key stakeholders.

“Most importantly, the introduction of AHS technology has improved safety outcomes across our operations and we’re very pleased that the Automated Mining Projects team has also achieved this important milestone in the truck conversion program with zero harm to any team members.”

Workforce skills development has been a key aspect of Fortescue’s automation project, it said, with the company’s training and redeployment program successfully transferring or upskilling team members to new roles across the business.

“Training is at the heart of everything we do at Fortescue and as we continue the integration of autonomous trucks across our sites, this ethos has guided our efforts to ensure no redundancies due to automation and to deliver significant benefits to employees from the opportunities offered by this project,” Gaines said.

Fortescue was the first company in the world to deploy Cat autonomous haulage on a commercial scale at the Solomon Hub. It was also the first in the world to retrofit Command for Hauling (part of Caterpillar’s MineStar technology) on a Cat 789D and Komatsu 930E haul truck.

The iron ore miner’s fleet of 168 autonomous trucks have now travelled in excess of 47 Mkm since AHS was first introduced – the equivalent of 65 return trips to the moon.

And, as part of the Chichester Hub automation project, 549,500 parts have been fitted to date across 100 trucks.

Primero Group lands contract addition at Rio Tinto’s Koodaideri project

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Multi-disciplinary engineering and contracting firm, Primero Group, says it has been awarded a material contract extension to the existing Koodaideri Non-Process Infrastructure (NPI) contract awarded in late 2019 by Rio Tinto.

Under the extension, the company will construct the Koodaideri Airport Terminal and Infrastructure, with the contract valued at around A$20 million ($14 million). This will involve the construction delivery of the works to be completed in parallel with the existing contract programmed for completion in 2021.

The contract value of the entire NPI contract now stands at circa-A$150 million, compared with the A$115 million under the original award. The difference represents additional “options selections” that Rio confirmed and included for implementation at the project earlier this year.

Primero’s workforce on the project will peak at approximately 180 personnel and site construction work is well underway, the company noted.

Construction on Koodaideri Phase 1 started in 2019 with first production expected in late 2021. Once complete, the $2.6 billion mine will have an annual capacity of 43 Mt, underpinning production of the company’s flagship iron ore product, Pilbara Blend, Rio says.

With this recent NPI contract addition, Primero’s financial year 2021 contracted order book now stands at approximately A$220 million, the company said.

Primero Managing Director and CEO, Cameron Henry, said: “It is pleasing to be awarded further core NPI work from such a great project partner and Tier 1 client as Rio Tinto. We continue to deliver to plan across all major project works and are increasingly optimistic about the operating and growth outlook for the next year and beyond.”

Monadelphous bolsters Pilbara iron ore order book

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Monadelphous Group has added another A$150 million ($101 million) worth of construction and maintenance work in the resources and energy sectors to its portfolio after being awarded contracts from the likes of BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals Group and Newcrest Mining.

The company is set to continue its stay in the Pilbara of Western Australia having secured a contract under its existing BHP Western Australia iron ore (WAIO) asset panel framework agreement associated with the dewatering of surplus water at Mining Area C (Yandi mine, pictured).

Close by, it has received a three-year contract with Rio Tinto for the provision of maintenance services and minor projects on its Pilbara marine infrastructure, and one-year extensions to its two existing fixed plant maintenance and shutdown crane services contracts with Fortescue.

In addition, Monadelphous has been appointed to BHP’s WAIO Site Engineering Panel for a further two-year term, to provide civil, structural, mechanical, piping and marine services at its mine site and port operations in the Pilbara.

In Papua New Guinea, meanwhile, Monadelphous has sealed a new three-year contract to provide minor capital project services, including civil, mechanical, structural, piping, and blast and paint at Newcrest Mining’s gold mining operations on Lihir Island. The company has been providing services at Lihir Island since 2017.

Added to this is a four-year contract to continue providing mechanical and electrical maintenance and turnaround services for a customer’s midstream operations in the Queensland, Australia, coal seam gas market.