The project will create up to 400 construction jobs and secure abouit 200 ongoing operational roles.

“This will bring great opportunities for skilled operators from across the Bowen Basin, as Whittens look to recruit to bolster their operator workforce,” BHP said.

Once completed, the conveyor system will transport coal from Peak Downs mine to the coal preparation plant at the nearby Caval Ridge mine – increasing throughput top reach its capacity of 10 million tonnes per year.  

BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie said earlier this year that the company’s decision to build the Caval Ridge Southern Circuit had increased the base value of its operations.

CRSC is an 11km overland conveyor system that will transport coal from Peak Downs Mine to the coal handling preparation plant at the nearby Caval Ridge Mine.

Last month Whittens was also awarded a $22 million contract by G&S Engineering Services at MACH Energy Australia’s Mount Pleasant Operation, near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

The contract is for the plant site bulk earthworks, construction of the run-of-mine wall, roads, drainage, and buried services, together with the detailed earthworks and construction of 7000cu.m of structural concrete. 

Included in the concrete scope of work are major structures such as a sizing station, plant feed and thickener areas, transfer pads through to the stockpile and a reclaim tunnel.

The project was the second major project secured by Whittens in New South Wales in 2017, and demonstrated Whittens’ capacity as a self-performing contractor with both bulk earthworks and concrete construction capabilities, director Tyron Whitten said.