QBirt awarded $70 million earthworks contract for Amrun bauxite project

Sophia Rostron   |   January 19, 2017

The Queensland Government has announced that Queensland-based civil engineering company QBirt has won a $70 million bulk earthworks package for work on Rio Tinto's $2.6 billion Amrun Bauxite project on Western Cape York. 

QBirt founder and managing director Quentin Birt said the latest Amrun contract is a positive step to continue QBirt's association with Rio Tinto, after previously winning the contract for 300,000m3 of embankment and seven kilometres of mine haul roads.  

“We pride ourselves on the relationships we generate and this is mirrored by our ongoing re-engagement with Rio Tinto. After the success of our accelerated construction mine haul road network at Weipa, this new Amrun contract only strengthens our long-term relationship with Rio Tinto.”

Screen Shot 2017-01-20 at 8.43.51 am.pngImage courtesy of Rio Tinto

Earthworks required for the construction of the new project include approximately 40 kilometres of sealed access roads and the haul road network.

QBirt will also develop the mine stockpile zone, tailings and separation ponds and other critical site infrastructure. Construction is expected to generate 150 jobs, commence in the first quarter of 2017 and conclude by the end of 2018.

Once operational, the Amrun project is expected to support the continued employment of the current 1400 strong workforce based in Weipa,  as well as more than 2000 employees based at the Yarwun and Queensland Aluminium Limited refineries in Gladstone that are fed with bauxite from Cape York.

Recent Amrun contract awards include  McConnell Dowell picking up the construction contract for the Amrun Export Facility in July 2016, Civmec securing two contracts totalling $160m of work, and Decmil winning a $50m NPI contract. 

Source: Rio Tinto, Qld Govt

Sophia Rostron
As the Content editor at Felix (formerly PlantMiner), Sophia works behind the scenes to keep our blog machine in motion. A student of Law and Business, she's very dependent on coffee and loves any excuse to travel.

Related Articles

Projects
Kerman Contracting wins $55m Western Turner Syncline 2 contract

Mondium - a joint venture between Monadelphous and Lycopodium - has awarded a $55 million contract to Kerman Contracting for works at Rio Tinto’s Western Turner Syncline 2 (WTS2) project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Projects
Kerman Contracting to build new facility at Koodaideri Project WA

Scott Technology Limited has awarded a contract to Kerman Contracting Pty Ltd to design and build a new automated iron ore sample processing laboratory facility at Rio Tinto’s Koodaideri Project in Western Australia. 

Projects
RCR wins $120m contract for Rio Tinto's Silvergrass project

RCR Tomlinson has been contracted to delivery a primary crusher and overland conveyor system at Rio Tinto's Silvergrass East mine for its Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. 

Get the latest project news

Formerly known as the PlantMiner blog, Felix Project News is Australia's top 10 Construction blog. Join thousands of construction and mining pros getting the best content right in their inbox.
  • updates on Australia's pipeline of state and federal projects
  • fresh contract awards from major contractors and builders

If you're looking to contact us about other matters, please contact us.