Sino Iron Project, Western Australia

• Operators: CiticPacific Mining
• Location: 85kms south of Karratha
• Timeframe: First production expected in late 2010 with a 25 year mine life
• Cost: US$30b
• Employment: More than 4,000 construction jobs and 600 operational jobs
• Status: CiticPacific is developing the first magnetite project of this scale in Western Australia and, when complete, will be one of the world’s largest mines. Construction is on track with more than 2,500 people working on site. Construction of the power station is rapidly progressing with the installation of gas and steam turbine generators, heat recovery steam generators and the cooling tower. Construction has moved to height with the exhaust stacks standing at 30 metres above ground level. Austrian Energy & Environment Australia is managing construction work. Excavation of the four crusher pocket slots in the mine pit is underway. The steelwork for the crushers is being pre-assembled in China and mechanical components are coming from Europe. Civil works have started for the 51-gigalitre desalination plant and module fabrication is progressing well in China. Contracts will be awarded soon for other construction activities including the primary crushed stockpile and tailings storage facility. Three accommodation villages are operational to house more than 1,800 people. More rooms are becoming available by the day. Construction of a fourth accommodation village by VDM has started and will become the permanent village for the project's long-term operations employees. This village will also temporarily house more than 1,100 construction employees.

Awarded Contracts and Employment Opportunities include:

• NRW Civil and Mining and VDM Group Joint Venture; $240m contract to complete the drilling, blasting and excavation of more than 6.5 million cubic metres of rock, employing a workforce of 500 employees. Work will take 15 months and has commenced.
• Austrian Energy and Environment.
• The construction contract for the project infrastructure was awarded to China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC), an international construction company. No word yet on how MCC will recruit.
• The provision of general mining services has been awarded to Central Mining and Contracting Pty Ltd.
• John Holland will construct the marine works.
• Thiess has been awarded Scaffolding services and will construct roadways.
• Southern Cross Electrical Engineering will provide early phase electrical works at Cape Preston.
• VDM Group’s Wylie & Skene are constructing the accommodation village.
• Downer EDI.
• Boart Longyear.
• DTMT Construction.
• BGC.