Under the terms of the contract, Golding Contractors will provide all mine planning, scheduling and operations including moving waste, ore, and low-grade stockpile material to the processing plant
EQ Resources awards $117m contract to Golding for the Mt Carbine tungsten mine. (Credit: EQ Resources Limited)
Golding Contractors has secured mining services contract worth about A$179m ($117.1m) from EQ Resources to restart the open pit mining operations at the Mt Carbine tungsten mine in Australia.
The former is a fully-owned subsidiary of Australian mining contractor NRW.
Located 120km north-west of Cairns in Far North Queensland, Mt Carbine is fully owned by the Australia-based resources company.
Under the terms of the contract, Golding Contractors will provide all mine planning, scheduling and operations including moving waste, ore, and low-grade stockpile material to the processing plant.
The material movement estimated over the contract period will include nearly 16.3 million tonnes of mine waste material, about six million tonnes of mined ore, and an estimated 2.9 million tonnes of low-grade stockpile material.
The contract is expected to run for about 70 months.
Both companies are expected to complete the first 12-18 months on rates and cost-plus basis to determine a site-specific baseline cost.
Following this period, the parties plan to transition to rise and run matrix rates, on fleet composition and material type basis.
According to EQ Resources, the new contract completes a positive first phase of engagement between the companies as announced earlier in July 2022.
Several areas, including pit design, contractor engagement, equipment selection, stakeholder involvement, and scheduling, have been completed during the period.
Golding Contractors CEO Geoff Caton said: “This Contract is the culmination of a period whereby the Parties have been working closely together under an early engagement contract.
“This has been a very positive experience for Golding and the team are now very excited to move to the next phase with EQR.”
The Mt Carbine tungsten project comprises tenements namely ML4867, ML4919, EPM14871, EPM14872, and EPM27394.
EQR Resources said the ramp up towards open cut production is moving closer to the delivery and processing of the first ore with Golding Contractors’ personnel on site full-time.
EQR Resources CEO Kevin MacNeill said, “We’re very happy with the relationship we’ve developed with Golding over the past year. It’s been a collaborative process and has been a positive engagement throughout.”