PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Metals developer Gindalbie Metals has awarded a A$570-million mining contract for its Karara iron-ore project, in Western Australia, to Downer EDI Mining.

Spanning over six years, the contract is one of the largest single operational contracts for the Karara project, and was based on a mining rate of around 30-million tons a year, comprising 20-million tons of ore and ten-million tons a year of waste, to produce eight-million tons a year of dry magnetite concentrate.

Gindalbie MD Tim Netscher said that the award of the Stage 1 openpit mining contract was a major milestone for the project, ahead of commissioning.

“The start of openpit mining will see the beginning of another huge transformation for the Karara site as development of one of the largest openpits in Western Australia commences.”

He noted that with the final pit measuring 3 km long, 800 m wide and 300 m deep, the Karara pit would be of a smaller size to other larger mining pits in Western Australia, such as the Super pit.

The partial prestripping of the main Karara magnetite orebody started earlier this year, as a result of trial mining operations focusing on near-surface hematite ore at Karara South and Karara East.

Full-scale prestripping of the main magnetite orebody is scheduled to start early in 2012.

Downer EDI would start mobilising to the site immediately.
 

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