The CHPP is part of the upgrading of the United colliery from a bord and pillar mine to a longwall operation under the ownership and management of Enex Resources.

The plant, to be constructed at United Collieries near Warkworth in New South Wales' Hunter Valley, is expected to take 34 weeks from design to handover.

HWE said the winning bid for the project combines Australian Coal Technology's low operating cost coal processing technology, with Simon's proven capabilities in construction and project management of infrastructure for the resources sector.

The material handling plant has a ROM capacity of 1000 tonnes per hour with about 540m of conveyors to a maximum lift of around 19m. The primary and secondary crushing system takes ROM feed down -50mm.

The plant consists of a fine coal module and a dense medium module and employs the latest technology in coal washing with a high degree of automation resulting in low operating costs.

"Since Henry Walker Eltin acquired Simon Engineering in May 2000 our focus has been on rejuvenating Simon's engineering and project management order book," HWE chief executive Richard Ryan said.

"This is being achieved gradually through work such as this, the construction of gas turbine power infrastructure for Valley Power, our work for Duke Energy and the construction of underground crushing plant at Ridgeway.

"There are still more opportunities in the Australian coal sector which we intend to pursue."