Tag Archives: Westgold Resources

More XE underground loaders on the way, Caterpillar says

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Having additional success selling underground loaders to mining customers, Caterpillar is gearing up to release more machines that leverage that same “architecture” technology as the Cat® R2900 XE diesel-electric LHD, Mike Berry, Vice President and General Manager of Load and Haul for Caterpillar, says.

The diesel-electric R2900 XE is built on the R2900G’s platform, Caterpillar’s most popular underground loader. It features optimised lift arm and component geometry plus load-sensing hydraulics to improve breakout force by 35% over the R2900G, Caterpillar states.

The 18.5-t payload R2900 XE features a switch reluctance electric drive system alongside a Cat C15 diesel engine, which offers up to 335 kW of power. Caterpillar says the machine comes with about 30% increased fuel efficiency compared with the R2900G, with its lower engine revolutions per minute resulting in reduced fuel burn, heat, noise, vibration and exhaust emissions.

These traits have, so far, gone down well. In Australia, there are units at mines owned by Gold Fields, Westgold Resources and MMG. Newmont recently confirmed an order for nine R2900 XEs to the Subika gold mine, in Ghana, while Centamin also added at least one of these LHDs to its underground fleet at Sukari, in Egypt. In Canada, Alamos Gold recently purchased two of these machines for its Young-Davidson mine, while Cementation Americas added the diesel-electric machine to its roster, deploying it at New Gold’s Rainy River project in Ontario, Canada.

Speaking to IM at MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas, in September, Berry said that the company planned to build on this momentum with more models set to join the platform.

“Similar to rolling out this technology from the surface with the 988 XE wheel loader to this machine [the R2900 XE], yes, we plan to take that technology up and down the underground loader product line,” he said.

Berry’s colleague, Paul Bitter, Product Value Stream Manager at Caterpillar, said the architecture of the XE platform – which also includes a battery-electric loader in the form of the R1700 XE – leaves a “great degree of freedom from a design perspective both for hauling and loading”.

He added: “We see it as platform for loaders and trucks, where, because of the electric drive, you can change power source. This means you can have a diesel machine, a hybrid machine or a fully electric machine.”

The most likely haulage and loading candidates for the ‘XE treatment’ are machines that currently only come in diesel form, have not recently been updated and have large populations out in the field.

On the theme of hybridisation, Berry said the company had no plans to combine the electric drivetrain with a small diesel energy and an on-board energy storage element for load and haul equipment. He and colleague Thad Litkenhus, Director of Product Management at Caterpillar, did raise the prospect of a form of the Dynamic Energy Transfer (DET) solution currently equipped for surface haul trucks being converted for underground use, however.

Designed to both transfer energy to large mining trucks, as well as charge a machine’s batteries while operating with increased speed on grade, the system “provides the industry with options to support both near-term and long-term sustainability strategies”, Caterpillar says.

Litkenhus added: “We define hybrid as having multiple energy sources and, if you think about the fundamental notion of a DET system, that is effectively a hybridisation of your machine to bring more energy to the machine. It just happens to be an off-board one.

“We actually think such a combination could provide the hybrid element that diversifies the power source without any drawbacks that come with having it all happen on board the machine.”

Cat R2900 XE

Cat R2900 XE diesel-electric LHDs brought into Gold Fields net zero plan

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As part of a strategy to reduce carbon emissions from its operations and achieve a ‘net zero’ status by 2050, Gold Fields is investing in three Caterpillar R2900 XE diesel-electric loaders for its underground mines in Western Australia.

The gold miner’s ESG strategy, launched in December 2021, was at the same time embedded as one of three pillars in the company’s strategy. Gold Fields has demonstrated this focus over the last few years, especially when it comes to its efforts to decarbonise its mining operations.

In addition to constructing and commissioning several solar plants, renewable microgrids and low-carbon gas turbines across some of its operations in South Africa and Australia, Gold Fields has been at the forefront of decarbonising the load and haul part of the underground mining cycle.

In 2021, Gold Fields started trialling a Sandvik LH518B 18 t battery-electric underground LHD, in addition to a 50-t-payload battery-electric Z50 truck, also from Sandvik. The machines were put through their paces at the Hamlet North mine, part of the St Ives operation, near Kambalda in Western Australia. The results of these trials were shared with members of the Electric Mine Consortium (EMC).

Rob Derries, Unit Manager: Innovation & Technology at Gold Fields Australia, says the results from testing the loader and truck at St Ives have shown the need for an alternative to assist the battery swap functionality for its local underground mines.

“The depth of our mines and the resultant ramp inclines indicate that a battery swap system alone will be a challenge from an infrastructure or financial perspective when rolling out on a larger fleet-wide basis,” he told IM.

Alongside this work, Gold Fields has trialled a hybrid diesel-electric drive Komatsu WX22H (formerly the Joy 22HD), which uses a Kinetic Energy Storage System to capture and reuse braking energy from each of the four wheels, reducing fuel burn and boosting productivity, according to the OEM and Gold Fields.

In 2021, Gold Fields started trialling a Sandvik LH518B 18 t battery-electric underground LHD

Now, the company has committed to bringing three Caterpillar R2900 XEs into two of its underground mining operations, according to Derries.

Built on the platform of Caterpillar’s most popular underground loader, the R2900G, this LHD features a switch reluctance electric drive system alongside a Cat C15 diesel engine, which offers up to 335 kW of power. The OEM says the machine comes with about 30% increased fuel efficiency compared with the R2900G, with its lower engine revolutions per minute resulting in reduced fuel burn, heat, noise, vibration and exhaust emissions.

Derries said Gold Fields does not consider the R2900 XE a “hybrid” machine given it has no battery or energy storage component on board, but stressed that it still offers the reduced fuel burn and productivity advantages the company is looking for as part of its modernisation strategy.

“From the field-follow trial reports we have seen, it can produce a 35% fuel burn reduction,” he said. “This is why we consider it to be part of our plan to transition our operations to zero emissions, just like the Epiroc machine we are working on.”

Last year, Gold Fields entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Epiroc to develop and test a proof of concept for the 65-t class Minetruck MT65 E-Drive with the aim of having a prototype diesel-electric truck running at the miner’s Granny Smith mine, near Laverton in Western Australia, in late 2024.

Derries says the company is also continuing discussions with all OEM partners on potential battery-electric vehicle deployments at its Australian underground mines, explaining that variations on trolley infrastructure, battery charging and battery swapping were being evaluated.

EMC collaboration builds confidence

The field-follow trials Derries references were integral to Gold Fields making the investment in the Caterpillar diesel-electric vehicles.

“In Australia, there were four field-follow units that Cat sent out, all of which went to EMC member operators,” he said. “The feedback and learnings that came back from these trials, which was shared internally within the consortium, provided the confidence we needed to make the investment decision.”

The EMC is a growing group of leading mining and service companies, all of whom are driven by the imperative to accelerate progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine. In the short time since establishment, the consortium’s membership has grown almost two-fold with over 40 equipment trials in 15 different locations mobilised.

Outside of these Caterpillar R2900 XE field follow units, Westgold Resources took delivery of the first commercial R2900 XE at its Midwest operations in Western Australia, as part of an agreement with WesTrac. The mining company has since agreed to purchase another six of the diesel-electric vehicles.

A separate R2900 XE is due to be delivered to another mining operation in Australia later this year, IM understands.

Derries says Gold Fields has felt the benefits of signing up to the EMC.

“The EMC is a great platform for operators like us to gather information without having to trial everything out there,” he said. “Like the companies that shared their data from the R2900 XE field-follow trials, we shared the learnings from our Sandvik trials – not just our operational performance data.

“We were then able to do a cross check between our battery-electric trial data and the field-follow trials from the Caterpillar machines, giving us the confidence to invest in the three LHDs.”

Derries says the new units are expected to arrive at its operations in the next 12 months.

Barminco and RCT partner on ‘world first’ agnostic remote installation of Cat 2900 XE

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Barminco has enlisted the help of RCT to carry out what it believes to be the world’s first agnostic remote installation on Caterpillar’s R2900 XE diesel-electric underground loader.

The mining services company will be using the R2900 XE loader which has a diesel engine and electric driveline at the IGO-owned Spotted Quoll underground mine, in Western Australia.

Built on the platform of Caterpillar’s most popular underground loader, this new LHD – which was previewed at MINExpo 2021 in Las Vegas – features optimised lift arm and component geometry plus load-sensing hydraulics to improve breakout force by 35% over the Cat R2900G, Caterpillar claims.

RCT’s Kalgoorlie Branch Manager, Rick Radcliffe, said: “Technology and innovation are two of Barminco’s core components, so it made sense they chose RCT to carry out the installation of this automation project. We are receiving a lot of interest in this project as it is a hybrid loader which reduces fuel burn resulting in low diesel particulates, which is something companies are looking at doing to mine more sustainably in the future.”

This project is currently underway with RCT’s Kalgoorlie branch completing the installation.

The world’s first R2900 XE was delivered to Western Australia-based Westgold Resources, with the gold miner having since agreed to purchase another six of these loaders.

Westgold’s Clean Energy Transition initiative accelerates with start up of first hybrid power station

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The Tuckabianna hybrid power facility – the first of four new hybrid power stations being developed for Westgold Resources – has commenced operations, in Western Australia; a major milestone for the gold miner and its Clean Energy Transition initiative.

The four facilities – at Tuckabianna, Bluebird, Fortnum and Big Bell – are expected to provide substantial reductions in emissions and power costs across Westgold’s operations in the Murchison and Bryah regions of Western Australia, according to Pacific Energy, the provider of these solutions. The system will have a combined installed capacity of 82 MW, providing an expected annual reduction of 38 million litres in diesel fuel usage and approximately 57,000 t/y less CO2-equivalent emissions.

Westgold Chair, Cheryl Edwardes, and Managing Director, Wayne Bramwell, joined business partners, local officials and Traditional Owners on site to open the 17.9 MW facility this week.

The Tuckabianna facility includes a 6 MW solar farm fitted with 11,088 photovoltaic panels, a battery energy storage system with 2.4 MW installed capacity, and a 9.5 MW gas-fuelled power station.

The gas-fired power stations, battery storage and solar farms are owned and operated by Pacific Energy under an Electricity Purchase Agreement, and the LNG is provided by Clean Energy Fuels Australia (CEFA) under an LNG supply agreement. These agreements were signed last year.

These agreements will deliver substantial operating cost savings to Westgold in its 2023-2024 financial years onwards of around A$100/oz ($68/oz) at the then current diesel price and supports its commitment to environmental, social and governance initiatives that will reduce the company’s long term greenhouse gas emissions, it said.

Westgold’s Bramwell said: “Westgold continues to innovate to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and drive our operating costs down. This new hybrid power facility at Tuckabianna incorporates renewable energy and is a great first step along this journey, with power generated from these facilities energising our mines and processing hubs for decades to come. The successful commissioning of Tuckabianna is a testament to the tireless work of Westgold’s project and operational teams, business partners at Pacific Energy and CEFA and construction crews who have delivered our first power station safely and on schedule.”

Pacific Energy CEO, Jamie Cullen, said: “Congratulations to the Pacific Energy and Westgold project teams for delivering the Tuckabianna hybrid station – on time, and most importantly safely and incident free. Tuckabianna is part of a larger project to consolidate six existing power stations into four high efficiency hybrid power stations that incorporate gas, solar and battery storage systems. Collectively this represents one of the largest fully integrated hybrid power systems in the Australian mining sector.

“As a valued client of Pacific Energy since 2015, we are delighted to join Westgold on its transition to a cleaner energy future.”

Westgold signs up MLG for transport, maintenance and management services

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MLG Oz Limited says it has been awarded a material five-year contract by Westgold Resources Limited that will see the METS company service the gold miner’s operational hubs across the Murchison and Bryah Basin regions.

The contract, which leverages MLG’s integrated support model, is focused on enhancing Westgold’s operating efficiencies. It also consolidates MLG’s resources in the Mid-West region and represents a material win for the company, it said.

Westgold owns and operates the Tuckabianna, Bluebird and Fortnum processing hubs across the Murchison and Bryah Basin regions of Western Australia, with its objective to leverage MLG’s existing fleet capacity to enhance operational efficiencies and use MLG’s latest road haulage technical advancements, MLG said.

Westgold is to provide dedicated maintenance facilities at each of its sites to support MLG operations.

The scope of services includes the delivery of in-pit, off- and on-road haulage, road maintenance and run of mine management services activities across all of Westgold’s operations.

The initial ramp up and mobilisation activities are expected to commence in October 2022, with anticipated annual revenues of circa-A$40 million ($27 million) with revenue to build from December 2022.

MLG founder, Managing Director and majority shareholder, Murray Leahy, said: “We are delighted Westgold has selected us to enhance their operations in the Murchison and Bryah Basin regions. Westgold is focused on driving cost and operational efficiencies to enhance the profitability of its business and we are proud to have been chosen as a key and trusted business partner.

“This is a large opportunity for MLG to establish a long-term relationship with a growth-oriented gold miner and Westgold’s faith in MLG represents a significant endorsement of our capabilities.”

MLG Oz is a founder-led business that provides a range of services to mine sites, integrated around the needs of client’s ore processing facilities.

Normet to provide rock reinforcement ground support at Westgold ops

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Normet says it has agreed a new partnership with Westgold Resources Ltd for the supply of rock reinforcement ground support to all its operations in Australia.

Normet’s Australian Business Development Manager, Jamie Rewell, said: “Westgold is an established Australian producer with major mining centres in the Murchison, and the partnership is a testament of Normet’s commitment to supporting Westgold’s growth in the region.

“With Normet’s global experience and expertise, we are well positioned to partner with Westgold for continuous improvement on safety and productivity of their operations. Normet would like to thank Westgold for trusting us with their business and look forward to be a part of their continued success.”

Westgold has a 7.9 Moz resource base with multiple mines, including six underground operations, and three processing hubs with a circa-4 Mt/y milling capacity in the Murchison and Bryah Basin regions.

CEEC Medal recipients recognised for pushing lower footprint mineral processing

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Two standout research and field work contributions that have the potential to improve environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance across industry have been awarded the highly respected CEEC Medal for 2020.

Attracting a record 23 high-quality nominations from across the globe, the shortlisted Operations and Technical Research papers showcased exciting site improvements and innovative ideas for future technologies, according to the Coalition for Energy Efficient Comminution (CEEC).

Now in its ninth year, the CEEC Medal recognises the best published papers that raise awareness of comminution research findings, alternative comminution strategies and installed outcomes.

CEEC Director and Medal Evaluation Committee Chair, Dr Zeljka Pokrajcic, said this year’s nominations reflected industry trends to install renewables, consider embodied energy and emissions, and the continued embracing of technologies such as pre-concentration and coarse flotation.

“It’s rewarding to see how industry leaders and experts are collaborating to forge improvements that make good business sense and proactively improve efficiency,” Dr Pokrajcic said.

The 2020 recipients are:

Operations

Peter Lind and Kevin Murray of Newmont and Alan Boylston and Isaias Arce of Metso Outotec, (formerly Metso), for their paper titled, ‘Reducing Energy and Water Consumption through Alternative Comminution Circuits’. This was presented at the 7th SAG Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2019.

Technical Research

Dr Grant Ballantyne (pictured), for his paper titled, ‘Quantifying the Additional Energy Consumed by Ancillary Equipment and Embodied in Grinding Media in Comminution Circuits’. This was also presented at the 7th SAG Conference in Vancouver.

Dr Pokrajcic said the winning Operations paper from Newmont/Metso Outotec documents a successful miner/vendor collaboration on how to assess the comminution circuit options in a low energy and water environment.

The paper considers a typical case of a low grade, bulk tonnage copper-gold orebody in an arid climate (Chile, South America) with significant energy costs. It brings together important solutions – including energy-efficient comminution, ancillary equipment, preconcentration and flotation – and presents compelling economic comparisons.

CEEC CEO, Alison Keogh, said of the paper: “This global knowledge sharing offers real value for decision-making across the globe. The paper’s practical, systematic technology approach, which incorporates all-important financial analysis, has the potential to accelerate industry’s progress to deliver lower footprint minerals.”

The paper’s co-authors, Lind and Boylston, explained that the work was the result of collaboration between many innovative thinkers, with ideas and approaches built over many years.

“We wanted to make a difference, to bring technologies together to show that you can save energy, save water and save money as well. This was a group effort, not only by our extended teams at Newmont and Metso Outotec, but also involving Steinert and Scantech in working through how to apply technologies,” they said.

The CEEC Medal Evaluation Committee praised the winning Technical Research paper from Dr Ballantyne as being “an impressive approach to capturing and quantifying energy consumption of ancillary equipment and energy used to manufacture and transport grinding media”.

The paper shares insights on embodied energy using data collected from sites and presents results on the CEEC Energy Curves.

“The research presents a broader approach that considers the impacts of not just energy used in particle breakage but also embodied energy in the manufacture and transport of grinding media, and energy used in the operation of ancillary equipment such as conveyors and pumps,” Dr Pokrajcic said.

“Bringing this spotlight to embodied energy has strategic value. Many companies are including investigation of supply chain in their procurement decisions.”

Dr Ballantyne, previously a Senior Research Fellow at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), and now with Ausenco, noted that his work started in 2012, building on earlier concepts shared by industry at a CEEC workshop in Australia. These concepts were developed further following industry input at the 2015 SAG Conference in Canada.

“I also acknowledge the inspiration and collaboration of Chris Greet (Magotteaux), Evert Lessing (formerly Weir, now Metso Outotec), Malcolm Powell (formerly The University of Queensland) and Greg Lane (Ausenco) for contributing expert input and data to the work,” Dr Ballantyne said.

“New research ideas and collaboration with industry are key to industry innovation,” he said. “Support and mentoring from these suppliers as well as experts from Ausenco and The University of Queensland ensured these new ideas could be published for industry to progress thinking.”

In addition to the two CEEC Medals awarded in 2020, three publications received High Commendations.

High Commendations – Operations

Ben Adair, Luke Keeney, and Michael Scott from CRC ORE, and David King from Minera San Cristóbal operations, for their paper titled ‘Gangue rejection in practice – the implementation of Grade Engineering® at the Minera San Cristóbal Site’. This was presented at Physical Separation 2019, in Cornwall, United Kingdom.

This paper shares the prediction and outcomes of a Grade Engineering pilot at Sumitomo’s Minera San Cristóbal operations in Bolivia. The work identifies ore amenability and levers to optimise up-front rejection of gangue before processing.

Keogh said: “This approach highlights the scale of the opportunity for mining leaders to invest in unlocking hidden value for shareholders through productivity step-change while significantly reducing impact on the environment.”

High Commendations – Operations (continued)

Malcolm Powell, Ceren Bozbay, Sarma Kanchibotla, Benjamin Bonfils, Anand Musunuri, Vladimir Jokovic, Marko Hilden, Jace Young and Emrah Yalcin, for their article titled ‘Advanced Mine-to-Mill Used to Unlock SABC Capacity at the Barrick Cortez Mine’. This was presented at the 7th SAG Conference in Vancouver.

This work was a collaboration between three organisations: JKMRC at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, Barrick’s Cortez mine and JK Tech. It shares an advanced mine-to-mill approach that unlocks improved SABC production capacity at Barrick’s Cortez mine in Nevada, USA.

Dr Pokrajcic said the article was an excellent review of the dynamic between SAG and ball mills, illustrating how mine-to-mill, with the consideration of blast movement as well as fragmentation, and operation-wide optimisation could empower sites to identify and sustain long-term improvements.

“It highlights the opportunity of operationalising cooperative ore blend control to balance energy use across the milling circuit, reducing specific energy consumption while benefitting from increased production,” she said.

High Commendation – Technical Research

Paul Shelley and Ignacio Molina (Molycop) and Dimitrios Patsikatheodorou (Westgold Resources), for their paper titled ‘SAG mill optimisation insights by measuring inside the mill’. This was presented at the Procemin-Geomet Conference in Santiago, Chile, in 2019.

In a first for industry, this innovative approach aims to collect data from sensors inside the grinding balls within grinding mills, CEEC said. It brings potential application for high frequency measurement of temperature and impacts inside the mill.

Dr Pokrajcic said: “If this early work can be successfully commercialised and scaled up, it could bring new insights that link to operational and energy efficiency improvements.”

Keogh said nominations for the 2021 CEEC Medal were now open, and she encouraged the submission of relevant, ground-breaking articles from online events and industry presentations.

“Because of disruptions to physical events, we have extended the closing date for submissions to October 30, 2021.”

Details of the application process for the 2021 CEEC Medal can be found here.

Westgold helps Australian Vanadium with water, road access in WA

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Australian Vanadium Ltd and Westgold Resources have signed a co-operation agreement that could see surplus water from operations at the Meekatharra asset used at the Australian Vanadium project in Western Australia.

Westgold’s Meekatharra operations comprise several active and inactive mines south of Meekatharra, 25 km to the west of the Australian Vanadium project, with continuous inflows into a number of these active and inactive pits and underground mines leading to the generation of significant amounts of surplus water. This water can be utilised in processing Australian Vanadium’s vanadium ore, the Australian Vanadium said.

In addition to the water access, the agreement provides a platform for “friendly collaboration” over access and the use of new and existing roads to move ore, materials and products within the companies’ tenements, Australian Vanadium added.

The Australian Vanadium project is currently one of the highest-grade vanadium projects being advanced globally, according to the company, with 208.2 Mt at 0.74% V₂O₅, containing a high-grade zone of 87.9 Mt at 1.06% V₂O₅ reported in compliance with the JORC Code 2012.

A December 2018 prefeasibility study laid out plans for an open-pit operation, with a crushing, milling and beneficiation plant, and refining plant for final conversion and sale of high-quality vanadium pentoxide.

Vincent Algar, Australian Vanadium’s Managing Director, said securing access to sufficient quality water resources to use in the mining and beneficiation process was one of the company’s highest priorities. “Access to excess water flowing into Westgold’s pits allows us to progress the project with increasing confidence,” he added.

“Western Australia has limited high-quality water resources, so innovative collaborations such as this agreement with Westgold can assist both the EPA (Environmental Protection Authority) and DWER (Department of Water and Environmental Regulation) with their water management and environmental custodianship, whilst allowing this critical project to progress.”

The key terms of the agreement are:

  • Westgold will not object to AVL’s proposed Miscellaneous Licence applications to enable Australian Vanadium to access, extract and establish infrastructure for pumping and relocation of water from one of the Reedy’s location open pits to the company’s desired location;
  • Any works will be undertaken at AVL’s cost and risk;
  • Access to Westgold and Australian Vanadium’s access roads will be permitted on a reciprocal basis;
  • Co-operation will be undertaken in good faith and in a timely manner;
  • A formal access agreement to secure Australian Vanadium’s Miscellaneous Licences and associated pumping infrastructure can be established, if required; and
  • The letter of agreement is set to progress to a formal agreement within three years, otherwise the agreement expires.

Westgold and K2fly to collaborate on Infoscape software developments

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K2fly says Westgold Resources has agreed to a new long-term contract to use its existing Infoscope software and partner with K2fly to develop additional enhancements to the software with a view to integrating its tenement and title’s management applications.

Additional overlays of the software include royalties, contracts, permits, licensing, and environmental and stakeholder management to provide a consolidated management tool.

InfoScope provides a single, spatially integrated solution to manage information relating to land access and compliance across multiple industries, according to K2fly. It delivers effective stakeholder, tenement, cultural heritage, native title and environmental management along with a full life-cycle ground disturbance process.

Westgold operates three gold production hubs in the Murchison Region of Western Australia, according to K2fly.

“Known as one of the largest regional consolidations within the gold sector, the group manages over 350 titles and a complex web of resources, road and infrastructure networks, licences, permits, service contracts and stakeholder engagements,” the company added.

Westgold’s Executive Chairman, Peter Cook, said: “We have long been looking for a land management system that expands beyond the traditional mining title area and enables us to integrate the multitude of layers associated and attached to our titles to an interactive and linked solution. Our industry needs a solution that enables us to operate faster and more efficiently in these areas.”

Nic Pollock, K2fly Chief Commercial Officer, said Westgold was “more than a customer”.

“They are actively partnering with K2fly and contributing to the further development of our land management solutions in a very meaningful way, assisting us to improve and expand our market offering.”

Westgold Resources gets uses to village life with Sodexo

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Sodexo is set to deliver more services for Westgold Resources after the two companies agreed to broaden their contract to include a fourth mine site in Western Australia.

This contract amendment, which will see the company start work on the Big Bell site, increases the value of Sodexo’s current contract with the Australia-based gold miner to A$40 million ($27.2 million).

Under this contract, Sodexo is scoped to deliver all village, transportation, catering, cleaning, building maintenance and landscaping services at the site.

The Big Bell site, located 24 km northwest of Cue in Western Australia, was launched on June 1, 2019, to support operations at the Big Bell underground mine, as part of the larger Cue gold operations. This would see daily commute times reduced, while ensuring worker facilities are readily available.

Westgold hit first ore at the Big Bell underground mine late last year. It had been dewatering and refurbishing the Big Bell underground mine for over two years. The base load for the Cue 10-year development plan is based around the Big Bell underground mine – which is expected to provide 10.1 Mt at 3 g/t Au from the company’s 2020 financial year.

Sodexo’s existing work with Westgold to provide services to the Cue, Fortnum and Bluebird mining sites is part of a three-year contract that commenced in June 2018. The Big Bell contract will conclude in 2021 in alignment with the contract for these sites.

Westgold Director of Operations, Steve Norregaard, said: “Sodexo continues to demonstrate its commitment to maintaining safety and quality operations for our mining workforce. The Big Bell mine is accelerating fast to become the cornerstone asset in the Cue operations. Sodexo’s facilities management services to the Big Bell mine site give us peace of mind that workers will be provided access to high-quality facilities and a home-away-from-home experience.”

Sodexo CEO Mining APAC, Paul Cooper, said: “Australian mining is a sector where Sodexo continues to excel. The company successfully demonstrated its dedication to service excellence by improving village life across three of Westgold’s existing sites and this supported our proposal for Big Bell. Being awarded the Big Bell contract is testament to a strong working relationship with Westgold, after acquiring Morris Corporation that had previously held the contract for three years.”