Thiess has won a $2.5 billion contract extension with Jellinbah Group for the Lake Vermont joint venture coal project in Queensland.
The five-year extension will continue Thiess’ full service mining operations including mine planning, coal mining, topsoil and overburden removal and drill and blast.
It will also be responsible over water management and rehabilitation of final landforms at the Lake Vermont mine.
As the statutory operator of the project, the CIMIC Group company will deploy autonomous drilling and semi-autonomous dozer push.
It will provide all mobile plant and equipment, and operate and maintain Jellinbah’s coal handling and preparation plant.
CIMIC Group chief executive Juan Santamaria said for more than 13 years, Thiess had worked alongside Jellinbah Group to safely position the mine’s operations for optimal efficiency, productivity and cost performance.
CIMIC Group mining and mineral processing, and managing director Douglas Thompson added: “We’ve developed a strong working relationship with Jellinbah Group since commencing work at Lake Vermont in 2007.
“We’re excited to bring fresh thinking and new solutions to support the mine’s continued, sustainable evolution over the next five years.”
The contract extension will commence starting 2022.
In 2012, Thiess was awarded a contract to extend Lake Vermont’s mining operations and double its production from 4.6 to 10.7 million tonnes of product coal a year.
Jellinbah produces hard coking and pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal at the Lake Vermont project. The company undertook an infrastructure expansion in 2012–2013, boosting the open cut mine’s production capacity to eight million tonnes a year.