Rio Tinto has chosen FLSmidth to supply key minerals handling equipment for the company’s Koodaideri mine in Western Australia. The contract is a turn-key contract for the design, supply, installation and commissioning for Rio Tinto’s new greenfield iron ore mine, Koodaideri.
FLSmidth will provide the products and knowledge that will be instrumental in developing the Koodaideri mine to be Rio Tinto’s most technologically advanced mine to date. Rio Tinto will for the first time apply smart technology to interconnect all components in the mining value chain. FLSmidth will design the equipment to the latest Australian standards and incorporate smart 3D design and a variety of advanced engineering solutions, such as BulkExpert.
“Koodaideri will set new benchmarks in digitalization and will feature the most technologically advanced solutions employed to date in the iron ore sector,” said Manfred Schaffer, president, FLSmidth Mining. “This will enable Rio Tinto to run the most-advanced mining operation featuring high productivity and high safety in a cost-efficient setup and we are proud to be part of this.”
Construction at the Koodaideri mine will commence this year with the first ore expected to be fully functional by late 2021 with a production capacity of 43 million metric tons of iron ore per year.
The exact total contract value for the supply of the equipment won’t be disclosed, but is exceeding AUD 80 million (approximately US$56 million) and will be booked in the second quarter of 2019.