BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance will invest $204 million to speed up the process of ramping up production at its new Caval Ridge coking coal processing plant in Queensland, Australia, to 10 million mt/year, BHP Billiton said Friday.
The investment will go towards a 11 km overland conveyor system, the Caval Ridge Southern Circuit, which is termed as the "missing link" to transport coal from the Peak Downs Mine to the Coal Handling Preparation Plant at the nearby Caval Ridge mine, said BHP Billiton president operations, Minerals Australia, Mike Henry.
"This investment furthers our productivity agenda, reduces costs, releases latent equipment capacity, and strengthens our coal business' global competitiveness," the company said.
It will result in the Caval Ridge preparation plant increasing its throughput to reach its 10 million mt/year capacity, it added.
Construction of the project is scheduled to begin mid-2017 and take 18 months to complete.
In addition to the new conveyor and associated tie-ins, the project will include a new stockpile pad and run-of-mine station at Peak Downs; and at Caval Ridge, the existing CHPP and stockyard will be upgraded, it said.
