PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major Rio Tinto has awarded ASX-listed engineering services company Civmec a contract worth more than A$330-million at its Western Range iron-ore project, at the Paraburdoo site in the Pilbara.

Civmec on Tuesday said that the project would include a greenfield and brownfield scope, with the construction of a new run-of-mine (RoM) pad, primary crushing facility, overland conveying circuit and modifications to the coarse ore stockpile (COS) and downstream conveying system.

The greenfield scope includes a new primary crushing facility, discharge conveyor and transfer station and a 17 km overland conveying system that transfers the ore through to the existing Paraburdoo COS. The overland conveying system includes multiple conveyor flights, transfer stations and creek crossings to link the new primary crusher to the existing process plant.

To tie into the existing plant, the brownfield scope includes extensive modifications to the current Paraburdoo COS and downstream conveying system. This includes addition of new feed points at the COS, new ore transfer equipment, conveyor replacements, conveyor upgrades, drive replacements and a range of other general modifications to receive the new ore stream.

The off-site works will start immediately, while mobilisation to site is due to commence mid-2023. At peak, the project will employ over 400 people on site and is currently scheduled for completion in the first half of 2025.

“We are very pleased to be awarded the Western Range project, which further enhances our long-standing relationship with Rio Tinto,” Civmec CEO Patrick Tallon said.

“The fact that we will be utilising our manufacturing facilities to supply our construction site teams, across several disciples, strongly aligns with our business model to provide multi-disciplined solutions for our clients. This allows us to start the new year with an order book in excess of A$1.15-billion.”