The larger of these is a six-year, $610 million contract for the provision of mining services at the Wahana coal mine in South Kalimantan for PT Wahana Baratama Mining.

Mobilisation will commence immediately with first production subject to Wahana receiving final government approval, which is expected shortly.

The project, expected to be completed by late 2012, is the largest mining project Leighton Asia (Southern) has ever been awarded.

The second coal mining project, worth $US70 million, has been secured with PT Multi Harapan Utama (MHU) at its mine near Samarinda in the Tenggarong region of East Kalimantan.

The two-year contract involves land clearing, drill and blast work, load and haul of overburden, coal mining, and haulage of coal to port.

“Our operation in Indonesia has been the company’s outstanding division for the past few years on the back of the opportunities in mining, and it will continue to perform strongly,” company managing director David Savage said, adding projects in hand in Indonesia currently total $800 million.

Leighton is currently working on six other mines in Indonesia and will be mining over 9 million tonnes of coal per annum.