PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Contractor NRW Holdings has won a A$65-million bulk earthworks contract from mining major Rio Tinto at its Koodaideri iron-ore mine, in the Pilbara.
NRW said on Thursday that the contract is expected to run for a period of 11 months, starting in April this year.
Rio in November of last year approved a $2.6-billion investment in the Koodaideri operation, which will be the company’s first intelligent mine, incorporating the latest in high-tech advances in the industry and using an increased level of automation and robotics.
It’s a large scale, low-cost, high-quality project, producing replacement tonnes and forming a new production hub for Rio in the Pilbara.
The Koodaideri lode would produce about 40-million tonnes a year by 2021, but could be expanded to yield 70-million tonnes or more at a later date.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2019 with first production expected in 2021.