Rio Tinto Gathers Final Pieces for Amrun

Diversified miner Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO, LSE:RIO, NYSE:RIO) made further progress on its AU$2.6-billion Amrun bauxite project this week when key pieces of infrastructure arrived at the site.

Civmec, a fabrication company based in Western Australia, was contracted in late 2016 to deliver a 1,700 tonne reclaimer and 550 tonne stacker for the project. 16 months later, the fundamental modules arrived in Queensland.

Marcia Hanrahan, Rio Tinto’s general manager for the Amrun project, spoke about the jobs created from the important infrastructure.

“The infrastructure has created employment on both sides of Australia with fabrication and part-commissioning of the modules generating 150 jobs for West Australians and 100 jobs for Queenslanders who will construct and fully commission the units now they have arrived at site,” she said in a statement.

The stacker is intended to receive bauxite after its processed and subsequently build stockpiles ready to be loaded onto ships. Meanwhile, the reclaimer collects bauxite from the stockpiles and delivers it by conveyor to the shiploader, according to a media release from Rio Tinto.

It is expected that the site team working on the project will take ten days just to unload the modules from the vessel, and six months to assemble and commission the machines. The final piece of the project’s physical puzzle, a shiploader, is expected to be shipped from Western Australia mid-year.

The project, located on the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland, finds itself 40 kilometres south of Rio Tinto’s East Weipa and Andoom mines.

Rio Tinto’s multi-billion dollar investment in Amrun was announced in 2015. The company expects production and shipping to start up in the first half of 2019, with production to be in full swing by the end of the year.

Bauxite is a sedimentary rock that consists primarily of aluminum, making it one of the world’s primary sources of the commodity. Amrun’s yearly production is predicted to hit 22.8 million tonnes per year, with 10 million tonnes per year replacing East Weipa tonnes.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.