Karara Mining awards mining contract to Downer EDI Mining

Karara Mining’s mid west magnetite operation has awarded Downer EDI the mining operation contract, generating 120 jobs.

Valued at approximately $570 million over six years, the contract is on the largest single operation contracts for the project and will include the provision of drill and blast, and load and haul services.

This will comprise around 20 million tonnes of ore and ten million tonnes of waste for the production of eight million tonnes of dry magnetite.

Whilst full scale pre-stripping of the main magnetite orebody will begin soon, work on site is scheduled to begin immediately.

Employees will be mobilised throughout the year, with production to ramp up over the course of the year in line with commissioning.

This contract follows the awarding of the tailings contract to BIS Industries.

The Karara project will use a dry tailings system at the mine, differentiating the tailings management system from conventional tailings dams or evaporation ponds, and allowing the project to reduce its water usage by about a third.

The awarding of the open cut mining contract is a major milestone for the Karara project.

With the final pit measuring 3km long, 800 m wide and 300m deep, in time the Karara pit will be of a similar size to other large mining pits in Western Australia, such as the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie.

The contract will employ around 120 personnel and require two hydraulic shovels, nine large capacity ore haulage trucks, drill rigs, and other support equipment.  Downer EDI will recruit directly for trades, labour and driving roles.

In addition, Karara Mining has recently launched its recruitment campaign for the mine and is seeking up to up to 200 workers, all fly in fly out.

The campaign will mainly focus on skilled tradespeople in Western Australia's south and mid-west.

You can read Karara Mining’s blogs here:  http://www.theresourcechannel.com.au/blog/karara-mining-opening-mid-west.

You can apply for current Karara Mining vacancies here:  http://www.theresourcechannel.com.au/job-board?keys=Karara&location=All&discipline=All&industry=All&qs=Search+Jobs&level=All&class=Any&posted=All&quicksearch=true