Thunderbird is Go!
We’re pleased to announce that construction is officially complete at Thunderbird, and operations have started. The first ore was successfully fed through the Dry Mining Unit and processed through the Wet Concentrate Plant (WCP) last week.
Chief Executive Officer Stuart Pether said the lost time injury free completion of the construction phase and start of processing was the biggest milestone the company had achieved to date and heralded the start of 36 years of operations.
“The first feed of ore into the Dry Mining Unit and through the Wet Concentrate Plant is a cause for great celebration at Thunderbird as it marks the formal start of operations.
“A huge amount of work from many different people and organisations has been involved in getting the Project to this stage, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported and contributed to our journey to date,” he said.
Click here for more information and the full media release.
Rotainers on the Road
You may have heard us referring to the ‘rotainers’ which will be used to transport our mineral sands products from Thunderbird to Broome. But what is a rotainer?
Rotainers are 1,800mm high sealed containers with a removable lid which are used all over the world for transporting different products including mineral sands, and you’ll start to see the first of them arriving in Broome in the next few weeks. The rotainers will be stored at our laydown area on Port Drive for later transport out to Thunderbird for filling as the production stockpiles increase.
The first mineral sands products you’ll see coming into Broome will be in two tonne ‘bulka’ bags which will be transported on standard triple road trains and then stored at the laydown area for later export. This will enable our offtake partners to process industrial scale volumes of the product through their purpose-built processing plant and facilities.
Read more about the logistics process on our website.
Local Spend hits $60 million
Local supply contracts and purchases have hit $60 million since work began on the Thunderbird Mineral Sands Project in July 2021, delivering benefits to many small local businesses. Our commitment to local content continues as we commence the production phase, with an estimated $750 million to be spent locally over the first 20 years of operations.
If you’d like to find out more about opportunities for local business, contact Brad Horsman, Senior Advisor – Community Business.
Celebrating Business Excellence in Broome
Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s Broome Business Excellence Awards who were recently announced at a Casino Royale themed gala dinner.
Organised by Broome Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the awards night provides an opportunity for the business community to come together to celebrate excellence in local business.
Congratulations in particular must go to Best IT and Business Solutions who won the Kimberley Mineral Sands’ sponsored Team Culture and Employee Acknowledgement category, and to the deadly team at Nyamba Buru Yawuru who took out the overall Business of the Year award.
Local and Aboriginal businesses the winners in mobile equipment tender
Following a procurement process that was intentionally structured to maximise small business participation, six local businesses have been announced as preferred tenderers for the supply of mobile equipment.
Two Derby based, two Traditional Owner and two Broome businesses have tendered to supply a range of different equipment to support site operations.
The preferred tenderers are:
- CAD Contractors (Joombarn-Buru) - Lighting towers
- Narijad Nyung Contracting (Joombarn-Buru) - Forklift, wheel loader and walkie stacker
- Cape Contracting (Broome) - Kanga loader
- DWA Industrial Resources (Derby) - Franna crane
- Kennards (Broome) - Skid steer, telehandler, compressor and generator
- Kimberley Hire (Derby) - Elevated work platforms