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 of Rio Tinto’s new greenfield iron-ore mine, Koodaideri.
FLSmidth will provide the products and know-how that will be instrumental in developing the Koodaideri mine to be Rio Tinto’s most technologically advanced mine to date. For the first time, Rio Tinto will 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 3-D design and a variety of advanced engineering solutions, such as BulkExpert.
Manfred Schaffer, president at FLSmidth Mining, said: “Koodaideri will set new benchmarks in digitalisation and will feature the most technologically advanced solutions employed to date in the iron ore sector. This will enable Rio Tinto to run the most advanced mining operation featuring high productivity and high safety in a cost-efficient set-up and we are proud to be part of this.”
Construction at the Koodaideri mine will commence this year. The first ore is expected to be fully functional by late 2021 with a production capacity of 43Mt/y of iron ore.
The exact total contract value for the supply of the equipment won’t be disclosed but is exceeding A€80 million (US$56 million) and will be booked in the June 2019 quarter.
