BTP has received a letter of intent from Peabody for the supply of 68 pieces of mining equipment to Peabody mine sites in key Australian coal precincts in the Hunter Valley and the Bowen Basin on a combination of dry hire and fully maintained dry hire.

Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining, energy access and clean coal solutions.

The contract period is for four years, subject to annual renewals, and will be finalised once the final legally binding contract is signed.

“We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Peabody through this contract,” BTPE general manager Peter Lock said.

“This is the biggest equipment supply contract for BTP since Ausdrill acquired the BTP Group in 2012 and is expected to generate substantial annual revenues to BTP and the Ausdrill organisation.

“It builds on our existing work with Peabody, where BTP has been supplying equipment at Peabody mine sites for the last 14 months.

“This has been augmented by another Ausdrill subsidiary, DT HiLoad, which supplies them with ightweight truck trays, while we have also held initial discussions regarding Drilling Tools Australia supplying drilling consumables and drill trials on Peabody sites.

“We therefore believe this partnership creates great potential for BTP and the entire Ausdrill Group to achieve further synergies and grow our relationship with this industry leader.

“The BTPE team has worked tirelessly with Peabody to reach this successful milestone and is to be congratulated on the outcome.”