The contract involves a dry plant detailed earthworks and concrete package, with Civmec responsible for the construction of the structural concrete components for the dry plant.

These components include the primary, secondary and tertiary crushing areas, screening areas, air classification and primary grinding areas, course ore stockpile, dry rejects and conveyors.

It will involve more than 350,000 cubic metres of earthworks, the fixing of around 4536 tonnes of steel reinforcement and the placement of around 38,000 cubic metres of concrete. Civmec will engage more than 200 workers at the peak period of the contract.

“Through our current delivery of works for Fortescue in the Pilbara, we have formed a strong working relationship built on transparency, trust and collaboration and reliable execution,” Civmec chief executive Patrick Tallon said.

“Hence, we are extremely pleased to be given this further opportunity to continue to work with Fortescue on the Iron Bridge project.

“This is an exciting project of a very significant scale with a declared value for the overall project being $US2.6 billion ($3.74 billion). The Iron Bridge joint venture has demonstrated and refined each step of the magnetite ore processing system and conducted full-scale trials to ensure the effectiveness of the process and gain confidence in the overall project success.”

The Iron Bridge project will support the production of 22 million tonnes a year of high grade, magnetite concentrate product. It is a joint venture between Fortescue and Taiwan’s Formosa Steel IB.

Civmec will start work immediately, with completion of the contract expected in the first quarter of 2022.

The engineering services company also plans to engage local Aboriginal enterprises in the works. The award increases Civmec’s order book to around $901 million.