MinRes wins $1bn Fortescue plant contract

Tuesday,05July,2011
By Cole Latimer

Mineral Resources has won the contract for Fortescue’s second ore processing facility at its Christmas Creek mine.

The construction of the 25 million tonne per annum facility is set to begin immediately with commercial production scheduled for September 2012.

The plant is expected to generate an additional $1 billion in revenue over the next decade.
Mineral Resources subsidiary Crushing Services International (CSI) will design, construct and operate the minerals processing facility.

The contract includes the construction of a remote primary crushing hub, a seven kilometer overland feed conveyor to move the ore from the primary hub, a scrubbing and wet screening circuit to handle the wet ROM ore, duplication of the screening plant, and the incorporation of a jigging circuit.

CSI will also upgrade Fortescue’s existing Christmas Creek 1 crushing and screening plant as part of the development.

Mineral Resources chairman Peter Wade said this contract is a recognition of the close collaboration between CSI and Fortescue.

“We are pleased to be again working with Fortescue on this major project at the Christmas Creek site,” Wade added.

“The new contract, which is the largest contract crushing operation in Australia, maintains the established relationships between the companies.”

In addition to the Christmas Creek iron ore project, Mineral Resources will also construct its own iron ore operation at Carina, in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region and expects to have iron ore on the trains by the final quarter of this year. (By Mining Australia)