BHP contracts MinRes at Mt Whaleback for five years

The five-year contract involves the design, construction and operation of the latest NextGen crushing plant, which will replace the existing plant at Mt Whaleback.

CSI Mining Services has operated at Mt Whaleback since 2012, with the latest contract also building on a 13-year working relationship between BHP and MinRes.

The MinRes subsidiary will oversee the construction of the plant modules in Turkey and its Kwinana workshop in Western Australia, before assembly of the plant is completed at Mt Whaleback. The project will create up to 110 jobs in Western Australia.

“This contract extension and expansion at Mt Whaleback is a tribute to the fantastic work CSI has been providing for one of our key blue-chip clients for many years now,” MinRes chief operating officer Mike Grey said.

“We would like to thank BHP for its continued commitment to the long-standing relationship we have and for the opportunity to deliver this step-change in crushing capacity at Mt Whaleback, one of the world’s largest iron ore operations.”

BHP has an option to extend the initial five-year, 12 million tonnes a year contract for a further two years.

The contract also marks a significant step in CSI’s partnership with Metso Minerals, which have joined forces to develop and market the NextGen plant worldwide.

CSI called the plant revolutionary, with a design that is capable of rapid deployment and processing capacity of 15 million tonnes a year, requiring minimal in-ground services and concrete.

The plant is assembled in modules, and provides superior reliability over time compared with fixed crushing plants. MinRes stated that it also had the flexibility to cater to companies’ changing production demands.