News

Article by Henry Ballard courtesy of Australian.

Mining.Roy Hill has signed MACA to a $70 million mining services contract at its namesake iron ore operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The contract has marked a significant milestone for MACA, taking its contract pipeline to $3 billion.

MACA chief executive officer Mike Sutton said his company was a good choice for the contract, having previously developed its knowledge of the operation.

“MACA is very pleased to be able to continue working with Roy Hill at its world-class iron ore operation, having commenced civil works at the project earlier this year,” Sutton said.

“Our team has a long-standing relationship with Roy Hill, starting with first mining at the Roy Hill project, and MACA is proud to be an ongoing part of the operation.”

The new 12-month contract includes open pit mining services, including load, haul, drill and blast activities.

Sutton said the works will begin in early 2022.

“This project will be undertaken utilising existing fleet, contributes to MACA’s secured mining work in hand for FY22 (financial year 2022) and FY23 and further secures our strong position in the Pilbara region,” Sutton said.

The Roy Hill project is owned by Hancock Prospecting (parent company to Roy Hill Iron Ore), Marubeni Corporation, POSCO and China Steel Corporation.

Elsewhere in MACA’s $3 billion pipeline is work with Pilbara Minerals (Pilgangoora lithium operation), CITIC Pacific Mining Management (Cape Preston Sino iron operation), and Ramelius Resources (Tampia gold project).

The mining contractor took control of $3 billion worth of contracts in early 2021 with the acquisition of Downer’s Mining West business.

This saw MACA novate contracts with Fortescue Metals Group, CITIC Pacific, Ansteel, and the Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources Gruyere joint venture.

The Roy Hill mine has an initial mine life of 17 years.

During this time, it is anticipated to produce 72 million tonnes per annum of wet run-of-mine (ROM) ore feed for the processing plant, making it one of the Pilbara’s largest mines.