Roy Hill is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of the 2016 Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA) Railway Project Award, in recognition of the massive rail project undertaken as part of its mining operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The prestigious Award was presented to both Mrs Gina Rinehart, Chairman of Hancock Prospecting and Roy Hill Holdings, and Mr Sanjiv Manchanda, Project Director, at a ceremony at the biennial Conference on Railway Excellence (CORE) in Melbourne on Wednesday 18 May 2016.
Mrs Rinehart said, “I’d like to add my sincere thanks for each and all those who made our high tech rail, and with the fastest construction time in Australia, possible. Of course this achievement couldn’t have occurred without the support of 19 major banks and five Export Credit Agencies, my continuing thanks.
“Building a project of the sheer size and scale of the mega Roy Hill Project involves significant risk, considerable years of planning and preparation, substantial perseverance and dedicated employees. Indeed it is the men and women who have come together, whether it is in a design and planning role or out working in the harsh Pilbara environment in a construction role, that truly deserve recognition in helping to take the Roy Hill Project from a vision to reality.”
“It’s pretty special to be an executive on a major project from start to finish, spanning decades, this doesn’t happen usually, and then to get an award too, thank you RTSA.
Barry Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Hill Holdings, said that with the arrival last week of the last three locomotives, Roy Hill had its full fleet of rolling stock to continue to help drive the ramp-up of production to the scheduled rate of 55mtpa, via its world class rail network to the Company’s Port facilities at Port Hedland.
On receiving the Award, Sanjiv Manchanda, Project Director, acknowledged the crucial role of Mrs Rinehart, “This would not have been possible without the vision and leadership of Hancock Prospecting and Roy Hill Chairman, Mrs Gina
Rinehart, who pegged the leases after becoming chair, back in 1992, leases not thought of value by others.”
“Many years of risk, persistence, investment and hard work in doing the successful exploration, studies, planning and preparation including obtaining many, many government approvals is a testimony to the perseverance and efforts of Hancock Prospecting.”
On the scale of the rail Project he added, “In comparison with some major landmarks, the tonnage of rail steel and sleepers on the 344 standard scale heavy haul rail line is equivalent to 100 Sydney Harbour Bridges.”
“To make this achievement possible I would like to acknowledge and thank the support from the shareholders Hancock Prospecting, and minority shareholders, POSCO, Marubeni and China Steel and for the support and steadfast enthusiasm placed in the team by our Chairman Mrs Rinehart.”
Contractor companies and suppliers led by the EPC Contractor Samsung C&T, included NRW Holdings, John Holland Pty Ltd, Central Systems, Calibre Global, Ansaldo, UGL, Nippon Steel and China Southern Rail.
Key facts
- Detailed design and construction of the rail project commenced in mid-2011, with ground clearing activities to commence construction in June 2013.
- The project comprises 344km standard gauge heavy rail with 11 bridges, 17 million cubic meters of earth works, more than 500,000 rail sleepers and 55,000 tonnes of track steel and more than 800,000 tonnes of ballast.
- The tonnage of rail steel and sleepers is equivalent to 100 Sydney Harbour bridges.
- Peak workforce employed was in excess of 1,500 staying at six different locations at any given time.
- The project achieved net productivity of track laying just over 1,300 metres per day, exceeding the previous best achieved in Australia of 1,100m per day.
About Roy Hill
Roy Hill is a landmark mining project and one of the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Australia.
Situated approximately 300 kilometres from Port Hedland, West Australia, Roy Hill is a world-class, low phosphorus, Marra Mamba iron ore deposit located in the Pilbara – the iron ore province closest to Asia – and the only independent iron ore project with West Australian majority ownership.
The Roy Hill mega project achieved many firsts, including the largest, mainly greenfield debt financing, and some of the largest equipment in the world. With an integrated mine, rail and port facilities, which has the capacity to deliver 55Mtpa – Roy Hill is one of the world’s major resource based projects which will deliver enormous benefits to the broader community for years to come.
Roy Hill’s first shipment of iron ore departed from Port Hedland to POSCO in South Korea on 10 December 2015, shortly followed by a second shipment to POSCO in December 2015.
