Mining Timeline

The Mount Goldsworthy Mining Associates consortium designed and built crushing, stockpiling, reclamation and rail loading facilities for Goldsworthy Mining Limited, Western Australia, in the first of an ongoing series of iron ore handling, railway and shipping projects involving Fluor in mining infrastructure throughout the Pilbara region. A 130-kilometer standard gauge railway was built to transport the iron ore from Mount Goldsworthy to Port Hedland.

Fluor used advanced techniques for mechanical tunneling on the River Mountain Project, a four-mile conduit connecting Lake Mead, Nevada with the Las Vegas Valley. The concrete-lined tunnel accommodated up to 132,000-acre feet of water a year - a boon for the high desert communities the Southern Nevada Water project served.

Fluor’s scope of work included a 28,000-square meter main complex that housed the process units, acid plant, power plant, laboratory, offices, workshop and warehouses.

Located 800 kilometers northwest of Saskatoon, Rabbit Lake was a very challenging project to execute in extreme environmental conditions. In spite of the challenges and only short periods of summer construction, the project was completed on schedule in April 1975.

Fluor provided engineering and procurement for this 8,000 tpd gold and silver ore processing facility. The plant uses semi-autogenous grinding, sodium-cyanide leaching and fire refining unit processes.

Fluor designed and constructed the secondary crushing and screening plant at Paraburdoo for Hamersley Iron Ore. The iron ore was hauled by trucks from the mine to the primary crusher and belt-conveyed to stockpile for secondary crushing.

The project began with a Fluor feasibility study of the 6,540-acre federal lease. It proceeded through engineering, procurement and construction management for the entire coal mine, handling, preparation and shipping facilities. The processing and loading facilities were designed to handle 12 million tons of coal per year with provision for later expansion to the present 24 million tons.

Fluor successfully completed the Cordero Mine project ahead of schedule and under budget.

The Clay West Plant was designed to produce a 2,200 pound /day of U3O8 yellow cake.

The Clay West Plant was a large-scale plant using in-situ carbonate leach process. The ammonium carbonate solutions were injected into the ore body, and the pregnant uranium solutions were pumped out through a series of wells. Fluor designed both the well gathering systems and the porter resin ion exchange process units. Loaded resin was trucked to the elution facility.

Fluor constructs the first large-scale commercial liquid fuels-from-coal plant known as Sasol II in Secunda, South Africa, eliminating South Africa's dependency on imported gas. Sasol processes sub-bituminous coal into gasoline, diesel, jet fuels, ethylene, ammonia, sulfur and various chemicals and coal tar products.

Fluor performed engineering, procurement, construction and start-up assistance on the Coal Creek Mine. The mine was comprised of coal processing, storage, loadout and ancillary facilities for producing 12 million tons per year of low-sulfur coal. Plant design called for sufficient output to load unit trains on a seven-day-per-week schedule at a rate of 10,000 tons per hour. Coal Creek was a grassroots plant requiring complete and integrated facilities with the ability to receive, process and ship coal.

Fluor provides construction management services for MIM Holdings Ltd.'s Abbot Point Coal Mine. At construction, the mine was one of Australia's largest deep water coal shipping ports.

Fluor engineered an expansion to the El Teniente SAG Mill Expansion. The engineering encompassed an addition of a 25,000 tpd module to the Colon concentrator.

Fluor provided detailed design, procurement, construction management and start-up services for all the process facilities at Colomac's 10,000 tpd gold processing facilities. The remote location and the severe climate of Canada's Northwest Territories offered many challenges. Despite those challenges, Fluor completed the project on time and within budget.

In 1989, Fluor expanded the Hilton mine with a new lead-zinc concentrator.

The Highland Valley Copper mine provided copper ore to the Lornex concentrator. Fluor engineered and managed construction for the two in-pit 60/89 movable crushing stations and the overland conveyor transportation systems from the pit to the concentrator. The concentrator was expanded by the addition of the two Highmont SAG mills, a Highmont stacker and a new coarse ore stockpile.

Fluor provided EPCM services for this copper leach/SX-EW facility on a brownfield site, at 4,400 meter msl elevation. The project included primary crushing, secondary/tertiary crushing, agglomeration, heap stacking, thin layer leaching, SX system, EW tank house, powerhouse, 138-km access road, water well field, 35-km water pipeline, shops, offices, and camp. Copper is recovered from the leaching solutions in three parallel SX trains, designed to process a nominal 2,769 cubic meters per hour of PLS. The EW plant is designed to produce a nominal 216 tons per day or 75,000 tons per year of high grade copper cathodes. A fully automated cathode washing and stripping machine is incorporated to process 360 cathodes per hour to harvest the copper.

As part of Placer Dome's Zaldivar Heap Leach SX-EW project, Fluor engineered a heap leaching and SX-EW facility producing 125,000 tons of cathode copper per year. We also engineered the heap leach stacking system. The engineering work was executed from Fluor's Vancouver office.

Phase III of the Escondida expansion increased the concentrator's capacity to 115,000 tpd. The scope included in-pit crushing, conveying, grinding, flotation, tailings disposal, process water, a new 165-km pipeline, and an expansion to the filter plant at the port site.

A Fluor subsidiary worked on design and procurement of equipment for primary crushing, autogenous grinding, differential flotation and tailings disposal, together with the regrind, leaching, dewatering, handling and transport of concentrates. Transports were by road train to a rail loading facility at Yurbi, about 15 kilometers east of Cloncurry, and by rail to a modern mineral concentrate handling facility at Townsville.

Fluor provided feasibility study and complete EPCM services for a 125,000 tpy oxide leach/SX–EW facility, including a 54,000 tpd crushing and screening plant, materials handling, heap leaching and ancillaries. Project completed ahead of schedule and under budget in 1998.

In 1999, Fluor completed the Phase 3.5 expansion of Escondida. The expansion increased the mine and concentrator capacity to 132,000 tpd.

BHP Billiton’s Iron Ore Expansion Programme was implemented in 2001 to increase their iron ore capacity and operations in the region. Market factors driving the programme included: ‘Speed to market’ to capitalise on the high iron ore demand driven primarily by China; deliver an expansion ‘programme’ rather than a series of stand-alone projects; and the need for a dependable EPCM service provider during the boom times of the Western Australia economy. A series of projects followed over the next 14 years.

The Phase IV Expansion at the Minera Escondida Copper Mine increased the mine and mill capacity from 132,000 tpd to 253,000 tpd. Additionally the Laguna Seca concentrator was added as part of this expansion.

Bwana Mkubwa was one of the world’s lowest-cost copper operations. The two-phase expansion included conversion from a tailings leach to an ore tank leach operation. Fluor provided fast-track services for engineering, procurement, construction support and commissioning of the project.

The Fluor-led joint venture, MPD JV, was engaged by BHPBIO to assist in the execution of its iron ore expansion projects to increase mining, processing, rail transportation, stockpiling and shiploading capabilities across BHP Billiton’s Pilbara iron ore assets.

The Programme received numerous awards, including:

• Institute of Engineers Australia National Award 2004 (Rail Project)

• Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA) Biennial Industry Award 2004

• WA Engineering Excellence Awards 2004 (Rail and Mine/Port Projects)

The RGP2 project, part of BHP Billiton's Western Australia Iron Ore Growth Programme, included the development of a new mine at Orebody 18, comprising an ore handling plant and non-process infrastructure and services. Additionally, the JV modified the Orebody 24 mine to produce lump and fine products, constructed a new car dumper at the port and built additional rail to support the new Orebody 18 mine and car dumper.

The Cerro Verde Primary Sulfide Project was an expansion of existing processing facilities that extract copper from oxide copper ore using conventional heap leach and SX/EW technology. The concentrator processes sulfide copper ore from existing mining pits approximately tripling annual production at the site from 100,000 tonnes of copper to 300,000 tonnes.

Fluor completed the USD $700 million Prominent Hill Copper/Gold Project for OZ Minerals, the first major mining project in the region since an expansion of the Olympic Dam in the 1990s, which also involved Fluor.

The QMM Mineral Sands Project was recognised by Rio Tinto's Chief Executive with the 2009 Safety Award for outstanding safety performance. Fluor achieved 12 million consecutive safe workhours without a lost-time incident, a record in Madagascar and one of the top performances for a Rio Tinto project. The award also recognised our efforts to build a sustaining safety culture for the community and country.

RPG4 milestones included a new ore processing plant at Jimblebar, ore handling upgrades at Yandi and a new crushing and screening plant, additional stockyards, car dumping and train loading facilities at Mt. Whaleback. Additionally, the FAST JV expanded the port at Nelson Point, upgraded the stockyard and constructed new offices, warehouse and workshops at Finucane Island, all part of BHP Billiton’s Growth Programme.

Fluor performed engineering, procurement and construction management for the project. The main target was to complete the relevant facilities to support meeting the “first coal” milestone. Fluor achieved this significant milestone two weeks ahead of schedule. This milestone was preceded by an intricate shutdown to dismantle existing facilities, and tie-in, test and commission the required new process facilities and systems to enable coal to be conveyed to Morupule ‘B’ power station. All new facilities were built around the existing plant while it was still producing coal for the Morupule ‘A’ power station and other clients.

BHP Billiton’s RPG5 was completed on schedule in 2011. The project included expanding the Yandi Mining Hub, including the construction of a new 45-Mtpa ore handling plant (OHP3) and tie-in to the existing OHP2, plus the construction of supporting non-process infrastructure. Significant completions also included the port expansion with the construction of two new berths and two new shiploaders at Finucane Island, plus car dumper modifications and conveyor route upgrades and rail development including extensive upgrades to a dual rail track system.

The Jwaneng Open Pit Diamond Mine is the largest, by value, in the world. Its expansion facilitates greater access to kimberlite ore. Fluor performed engineering, procurement and construction management services for associated relocation and rebuilding of the mine surface infrastructure. The project was completed in September 2012.

The Orebody 24 project was part of the overall BHPBIO programme in Western Australia. In 2013, the Fluor-led, FAST JV constructed the Orebody 24 mine ore handling plant, non-process infrastructure and services to replace the Jimblebar Wheelarra 4 primary crushed ore supply to Newman Hub (14 Mtpa).

In the arid, very remote Gobi Desert in Mongolia, Fluor provided program and construction management to Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. on their $6 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

This mine represented the largest and perhaps most challenging engineering-construction project in Mongolia, and became one of the world’s largest copper mines when it commenced operations in 2013.

Fluor completed the pre-feasibility study for modernization of the Highland Valley Copper Mine concentrator and performed engineering, procurement and construction management services for this 125,000 tons per day open-pit copper-molybdenum mine.

Fluor opened an office in Gaborone, Botswana in 2015. Fluor's previous experience in Botswana includes the Orapa Diamond Mine and the Jwaneng Cut 8 and Morupule Coal Mine Expansion Projects. The newly established office allows Fluor to continue offering integrated EPC solutions to Mining & Metals clients in Botswana.

The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) and Alcoa formed a joint venture to execute several projects as part of the Ma’aden Aluminum project. Fluor provided project management consultant services for the overall program, as well as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the bauxite mine and alumina refinery, basic engineering and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) for the rolling mill and EPCM services for the automotive sheet facility.

Fluor designed 60 process modules and 106 conveyor and services gantry modules for Debswana Diamond Company’s Letlhakane Mine Tailings Resource Treatment Project in Botswana. The project will extend the Letlhakane operation’s life-of-mine by 25 years.

In 2017, Fluor completed three front-end engineering and design (FEED) scopes for The Mosaic Company's Ona Mining Expansion Project. Utilizing our phosphate fertilizer project execution capabilities, Fluor completed trade-off studies, identified bottlenecks, performed onsite equipment capability assessments and developed a high-value process design. Based on successful completion of FEED work, Fluor was awarded the construction management scope.

In 2018, Fluor was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction of the Quellaveco Open Pit Copper Mine project in Peru. Fluor has been responsible for the project's early site infrastructure development since 2014. The mine will produce 300,000 tonnes of copper per year.

Fluor was selected by ioneer to perform the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) and subsequent engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services as the project progresses for its Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Completed in April 2020, the DFS validates Rhyolite Ridge as a world-class resource with significant value creation potential due to its low-cost, large-scale operation and long mine life. The mine was expected to have a life of 26 years with the opportunity to extend and expand.