It started with a job moving 38,000cu.m of earth in Queensland. Ninety years later, Thiess is regularly moving millions of bank cubic metres of earth at its mining contracts around the world.

After realising it was seriously underpowered at that first job in 1934, the then Thiess Bros invested in a Caterpillar D4 dozer, followed by a D6 and a D8.

Last year the company celebrated moving its 10 millionth bank cubic metres of earth at  Jellinbah Group's Lake Vermont coal mine in Queensland with a fleet of six semi-autonomous D11 dozers. It is one of the world's largest users of Caterpillar's semi-autonomous tractor system.

Over the past 90 years what started as a small family company has grown to operate in seven countries on three continents with more than 15,000 employees.

These days Thiess is part of the CIMIC Group.

It is just two years younger than the ABC, RM Williams and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Its Lake Vermont SATS effort aside, Thiess is one of the very few mining contractors in the world running autonomous mining operations. It started that in 2012 at Fortescue Metals Group's Solomon iron ore mine. More recently it mobilised autonomous equipment to Pembroke Resources' Olive Downs coal mine in Queensland.

The contractor also returned to the Australian underground realm earlier this year when it bought PYBAR from Metarock.

Thiess group executive chairman and chief executive officer Michael Wright said since 1934 the company had continued to improve and evolve.

"Today we continue to grow into new regions, expanding our services and jurisdictions and positioning Thiess for the future," he said.

1940s

Through this decade Thiess Bros started to make its mark in mining.

It also moved into New South Wales for the first time, sinking the Young Australia tank for  New Occidental Gold Mine. That was also its first foray away from roadworks and building site preparation.

During World War II, and facing the risk of having its equipment requisitioned for the war effort, Sir Les Thiess convinced the Allied Works Council and the US Army to contract Thiess Bros to deliver major works around Australia. That included roads, military camps and airstrips.

With Australia facing a coal shortage due to WWII, Thiess Bros successfully tendered for two contracts at Blair Athol and Muswellbrook coal mines, beginning the company's mining contracting involvement.

Due to its work around Australia Thiess Bros purchased its first plane, an Arvo Anson.

1950s

Arguably the 1950s that made Thiess what it is today.

The company became involved with the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme. In 1958 it was awarded the Tooma Dam and Tooma-Tumut Tunnel contracts, making it the first Australian company to be awarded a major contract on the nation-building project. It set a world tunnelling record on the Snowy's Tooma-Tumut Tunnel, excavating 526 feet (more than 160m) in a six-day week. That was during the winter of 1959.

Thiess would be on the Snowy project until 1974.

It was during the Snowy River work that Thiess built its relationship with an emerging Japanese vehicle manufacturer called Toyota.

Toyota would send Thiess the latest versions of its light truck. Sir Les would send back unvarnished, robust feedback. That helped refine the vehicle to turn it into the Toyota Landcruiser of today. Thiess also distributed the Japanese vehicles for a time.

It was also during the 1950s that Thiess Bros, scored a coup. It salvaged scrap metal from Papua New Guinea, shipping US Army trucks, cranes and machinery to Australia. That equipment gave it an advantage over its coal mine contracting competition.

The company also established operations in the Mount Isa area with the building of the Corella Dam for Mount Isa Mines.

In 1958 Thiess Holdings made an initial public offering of 450,000 shares on the Sydney and Brisbane stock exchanges.

In 1961, Thiess was awarded its first civil engineering contract outside Australia – building a tunnel and shaft for the hydroelectric scheme on Lake Manapouri in New Zealand.

The next year joint venture company Thiess Peabody Mitsui Coal was founded to operate the Kianga and Moura mines and export Queensland's first coking coal to Japan.

On the rail front Thiess grew its rail capabilities from earthworks through to laying track, including the Kwinana-Kalgoorlie line in Western Australia.

It also became a pastoralist, acquiring 405,000 hectares, or about 1 million acres in the old language, in WA's Kimberley region.

Work started on the Talbingo Dam and Tumut 3 power station, Thiess final and largest contract on the Snowy Hydro Scheme.

Living in the '70s

In 1972 Thiess began operations in South East Asia through a partnership agreement with Petrosea. One of Thiess Petrosea's first jobs was the Sembawang dry dock in Singapore, which to this day is still one of the largest dry docks in the world.

In 1974 Thiess downed tools at Snowy Hydro for the final time after completing the Talbingo Dam and Tumut 3 power station ahead of schedule.

In 1979 Thiess entered a joint venture with German company Hoch thief to build the Loy Yang power station chimneys.

Also in that year CSR proposed a "merger" with Thiess Holdings. Sir Les fought the bid, however, the proposal was accepted by a majority of shareholders and the takeover was completed.

1980s

In 1983 Leighton Holdings bought Thiess.

In that year Thiess started building a series of resorts, including the one on Hayman Island.

Thiess began its first remediation contract, the clean-up of the Northern Territory's Rum Jungle uranium mine in 1984.

In 1987 Thiess started its environmental services subsidiary.

The move into Indonesia began with the creation of PT Thiess Contractors in 1988 through a joint venture with PT Mintekindo Utama Indo. The company won mining contracts in Kalimantan.

Thiess Process Engineering, formed in 1986 through the acquisition of the Leighton Major Projects division, closed out the 1980s by completing several mining projects, including the installation of a grinding mill at the Granny Smith gold mine.

1990s

The 1990s were a period of significant expansion – and not just in the width of its executives' ties.

On the mining front Thiess signed its first partnering agreement in mining for the Mt Owen coal mine in NSW, not far Muswellbrook where it won its from its first coal contract 50 years earlier.

The Mt Owen mining contract, which began in 1994 ended in 2022.

In 1995 Thiess provided an integrated service to design, build and operate the Burton coal mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin. In the same year Thiess also became the first contractor to undertake underground development work for the owner of the Newlands coal mine.

The company's rehabilitation skills were put to the test when it was hired to rehabilitate the Maralinga Nuclear Test Site in South Australia. The UK government tested nuclear weapons there from 1952 to 1963.

According to the National Museum Australia, Australian authorities had been unaware of the extent of contamination there until 1984, just before the land was to be handed back to its Traditional Owners. The clean-up project involved excavating and burying radioactive contaminated material.

In 1996 Thiess laid claim to being the first contractor to operate an established Australian mine on behalf of the mine owner, when it started running Collinsville in Queensland's Bowen Basin.

In the same year Thiess was appointed principal contractor on the underground expansion of the Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold mine in South Australia.

With thoughts turning to Australia hosting the 2000 Olympic Games, Thiess Environmental Services became the largest remediation contractor on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games site at Homebush Bay. Thiess Contractors also built the Homebush Bay Exhibition Hall as part of the Olympics preparations.

Remember Ansett? Thiess upgraded its terminal at Sydney Airport in 1998 to cater for the increase in passengers for the Olympics.

Sadly, the airline founded by Sir Reginald Ansett, who was born just two months before Sir Les, would fall into administration on September 12, 2001, making it the second event to rock the aviation industry that month.

2000s

A defining joint venture with coal handling and preparation plant specialist Sedgman was formed in 2002 to design and build the Hail Creek Expansion Project's CHPP. That JV went on to complete the CHPPs for the Dawson Mine Expansion and the Lake Lindsay coal project. These days Sedgman is a business in its own right within the CIMIC stable alongside Thiess.

Also on the processing front Thiess won the first major construction package for the Hismelt plant at Kwinana, WA. It was Rio Tinto's attempt to add some value to its Pilbara iron ore.

In South Australia in 2005 Thiess won the $800 million contract to mine Prominent Hill for OZ Minerals.

Two years later Thiess took a passage to India after winning a contract to establish and operate the proposed Chitarpur coal mine.

In 2008 Leighton Asia won the contract to develop the UHG coal mine in Mongolia. That project, along with all other Leighton Mining projects, was transferred to Thiess under the Leighton Holdings review in 2014.

Thiess Contractors Indonesia won the US$1.52 billion contract extension at Pt Arutmin Indonesia's Senakin and Satui coal mines in South Kalimantan.

BHP Billiton, these days BHP once more, awarded Thiess the initial stages of the Hunter River Remediation project in 2009. The HRRP was part of BHP's efforts to clean up an 85-year legacy of steelmaking there. It is considered the largest clean-up of its kind in Australia.

2010s

In 2010 Thiess won a 27-year contract to develop and operate the greenfield Pakri Barwadih coal mine in India's Jharkhand state.

The next year would be a big one for Thiess. In 2011 the company won a $1.3 billion contract to extend mining operations at the Burton coal mine in Queensland in 2011, along with a $222 million contract extension at Wilpinjong, NSW. It also won its largest ever contract, a $2.3 billion agreement to extend mining operations at Lake Vermont and a $1 billion, six-year contract to extend mining operations at Prominent Hill.

Then there were the two Indonesian contracts. One was an 18-month job with PT Lahai Coal, a joint venture between BHP and Adaro Energy. The other was a US$393 million coking coal mining contract with PT Tamtama Perkasa.

Thiess went autonomous for the first time in 2012, providing autonomous haulage services to FMG at its Solomon iron ore mine in the WA Pilbara. It was also awarded a $180 million civil earthworks contract with the BHP-Mitsubishi Alliance's Caval Ridge mine project in central Queensland.

In 2013 Thiess launched its first reconciliation action plan, as part of its commitment to Indigenous engagement and participation.

That year Thiess also formed a partnership with leading European lignite miner RWE Generation aimed at delivering significant savings for high-volume continuous mining applications worldwide. It became the first international JV to offer in-house design, engineering, operation and maintenance services for open pit continuous mining equipment such as bucketwheel excavators, and in-pit crushing and conveying systems.

Thiess also won three significant coal mine contract extensions. Jellinbah Resources awarded it a $550 million contract expansion at Lake Vermont; Wesfarmers Resources awarded it a four-year, $570 million contract at the Curragh mine near Blackwater in Queensland; and Glencore extended Thiess' Mt Owen mine contract in NSW.

In 2014 Thiess returned to iron ore mining in the NT on Western Desert Resources' Roper Bar project, a greenfield operation 600km southeast of Darwin.

During that year CIMIC decided to streamline its business and all mining projects across Thiess, Leighton Contractors, Leighton Asia and Leighton Africa came under the Thiess banner. According to CIMIC, that made Thiess the world's largest mining contractor.

It also won a $330 million contract from Samsung C&T to build the mine process facilities for Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill iron ore mine in WA.

Jellinbah Resources also gave Thiess a $250 million contract to operate the Jellinbah East coal miner near Blackwater, Queensland.

Extending its Indigenous involvement, Thiess entered into a joint venture with the Wirlu-Murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation in 2015 to provide labour and non-process infrastructure services at Solomon in WA.

That year Thiess won its first Americas contract, a $137 million services agreement with Antogasta Minerals at its Encuentro Oxides open pit copper mine in Chile.

As part of the CIMIC corporate restructure mining equipment dry hire company Fleetco became a Thiess subsidiary. Thiess also won a $115 million contract to continue at Dawson in Queensland; it got Rocky's Reward, a $160 million contract with BHP's Nickel West to undertake operations at the nickel mine near Leinster, WA; and a three-year $250 million contract from QCoal to operate its Northern Hub mines near Collinsville, Queensland.

In 2016 a two-year $370 million contract was won in Botswana through Thiess' 60% share in the Majwe Mining JV at Debswana Diamond Company's Jwaneng diamond mine.

There was also an Asian expansion with Thiess continuing mining services at the Teguh Sinar Abadi and Firman Ketaun Perkasa concessions and securing a contract extension at the Melak coal mine in East Kalimantan, together worth $530 million. In a JV with local contractor Khishig Arvin, Thiess secured the first underground decline project at the Rio Tinto-operated Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia.

The following year brought Bowen Basin expansion. In 2017 Thiess secured $440 million in contracts to provide mining services at BMA's Caval Ridge and Peak Downs mines.

Thiess also started a full-service contract at MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant operation in NSW.

In Indonesia relationships were strengthened with Kaltim Prima Coal, which awarded Thiess a $300 million contract to expand operations at Sangatta coal mine in East Kalimantan. Another two projects were won in the region: a $437 million contract at the Gunung Bara Utama coal mine and a $300 million extension at Mahakam Sumber Jaya.

In 2018 FMG contracted Thiess to install an autonomous haulage system on 65 conventional trucks at its Christmas Creek operation in WA's Pilbara.

QCoal also awarded Thiess a $480 million, four-year contract to continue operations at QCoal Northern Hub in Queensland. Also, Anglo American extended Thiess tenure at Dawson South with a $190 million contract, Coronado gave the contractor a $160 million extension at Curragh, and BMA gave it a $150 million contract extension at Caval Ridge.

2020s

So far this decade has been marked by further South American expansion, an expansion into North America, and a shareholder, Elliott Advisors, taking a 50% stake in Thiess.

Thiess also partnered with Mine Energy Solutions to bring its dual-fuel technology to its mining fleet.

The company launched a standalone rehabilitation business, Thiess Rehabilitation. It won its first contract in 2022, a 3.5-year partnership with Idemitsu Australia's Ensham Resources to deliver mine rehabilitation services across more than 700ha at the Ensham coal mine in Queensland. Its second contract is with Idemitsu at Muswellbrook, where Thiess' coal mining journey began in 1944.

In 2022 Thiess acquired MACA – another mining contractor toying with autonomous operations.

Thiess continued its operations with FMG, picking up the mining services contract for its magnetite operation Iron Bridge. 

It also won a four-year contract with Covalent Lithium, a JV between Wesfarmers and SQM, to provide mining services at the Mount Holland lithium mine in WA.

Last year Thiess expanded into Indonesian nickel with two contracts, a $125 million four-year ore hauling deal with Weda Bay Nickel and a $240 million mining contract with PT Halmahera Sukes Mineral.