Queensland-headquartered Orionstone has been awarded the Mt Cattlin Spodumene Project contract, which is expected to commence early this year.
West Perth-based Galaxy Resources today awarded the contract to the mining equipment and services provider, which has an office in Hazelmere, to provide a Hitachi 1800 excavator, Caterpillar 777D dump trucks, Cat D9 dozer and other ancillary equipment as well as plant operators and maintenance staff.
Galaxy, an emerging lithium producer, said in a statement today that the drill and blast component of the mining contract will be delivered by an Orionstone subcontractor, Total Drilling Services, which has also been operating in the Goldfields region for many years.
The Mt Cattlin mine is poised to become the world's second largest hard rock producer of lithium and, through the development of its value adding Jiangsu lithium carbonate plant which produces 17,000 tpa, the company is expected to be the largest and lowest cost lithium producer in China.
Mining at Mt Cattlin is expected to start in early April with a four-month pre-strip period in order to guarantee supply of run of mine ore for the commissioning of the process plant in the third quarter of this year.
Orionstone was established in the eastern Goldfields 17 years ago and currently has fleets of equipment operating around Australia.
Former clients of the company include Norilsk Nickel, Harmony Gold, Newcrest Mining, Haddington and Panoramic Resources.