Thiess has agreed a $160m contract with BHP Billiton Nickel West to operate the company’s Rocky’s Reward nickel mine in Western Australia.
The mine is located at Leinster, 400km north of Kalgoorlie and is an open-pit operation within Nickel West’s Leinster mine complex.
Under the 30-month contract at the brownfield operation, Thiess will provide mining services, including mine planning, explosives, drilling and blasting.
Services also include overburden and ore mining as well as overarching technical support.
Thiess owner CIMIC Group executive chairman and chief executive officer Marcelino Fernández Verdes said: "We are continuing to tender for more mining work and expect further contracts to be awarded to the Group in the near future."
The Rocky’s Reward nickel project is expected to provide further diversification to Thiess by commodity, as well as geography.
Thiess managing director Michael Wright said: "It builds on the partnership we first established with BHP Billiton Nickel West at the nearby Mt Keith operations in 2003."
Nickel West is a member of the BHP Billiton group and consists of the Mt Keith, Cliffs and Leinster mines, the Kalgoorlie smelter, the Kambalda concentrator and the Kwinana refinery.
Image: The Reward mine is an open-pit operation within Nickel West’s Leinster mine complex. Photo: courtesy of Thiess.
