Perth-based company awarded $200m CQ mining contract

Anglo American awarded the contract to the Perth-based company to provide surface mining services.

Anglo American's Dawson Coal Mine on the outskirts of Moura. Photo: Kerri-Anne Mesner

Anglo American has awarded a $200 million Central Queensland surface mining contract to a Perth-based company for three years.

McMahon Holdings Limited announced the contract to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Tuesday for surface mining services at Anglo American’s Dawson South coal mine.

CEO and Managing Director Michael Finnegan said McMahon was looking forward to commencing operations from July.

“We are very pleased to be selected for the Dawson South operation by Anglo American, a

leading global mining company.

“We look forward to working very closely with our new client to ensure a smooth transition period and continuity of safe operations.

“This new project further strengthens our growing east coast presence.”

The Dawson South open-cut metallurgical coal mine, which is located approximately 185km south-west of Gladstone, is 51 per cent owned by Anglo American and 49 per cent by Japan’s Mitsui Group.

There are about 1300 employees and contractors employed at the mine.

A photo showing a mine wall collapse at Anglo American's Dawson coal mine near Moura in Central Queensland.

In 2013 there was a major high wall collapse at the open cut Dawson Mine, which forced Anglo American to halt operations, after an excavator and a haul truck were partially covered.

Nobody was seriously injured in the incident.

Coal mining began at Moura in 1961, with an $839m expansion completed in 2008, where three separate mining areas sharing infrastructure were identified, Dawson North, Dawson Central and Dawson South.

McMahon was established in 1963 and won its first mining contract in 1967.

The company has been awarded contracts in Africa, Mongolia, Indonesia, Chile and Malaysia and was listed on the ASX in 1983.

During its almost 60-year history, McMahon has been involved in the construction of roads, railways and dams, as well as mining, civil works and construction.

In 2017, McMahon was awarded its biggest ever contract, $2.8 billion at the Batu Hijau open-cut copper and gold mine in Indonesia.

Since then, McMahon acquired Brisbane based civil construction and maintenance services company TMM Group in 2018, and specialist underground mining contractor GBF Underground Mining Group in 2019.

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