Rio awards Dampier desal contract

Rio Tinto has awarded a $23 million contract to engineer EVZ for work on the miner's $395 million desalination plant in Dampier.

The contract includes design, procurement, and construction of a four-gigalitre-per-year plant to provide water for Rio Tinto’s Dampier port operations, where the bulk of its iron ore is exported from.

EVZ subsidiary Brockman Engineering expects to begin site work in December this year, and the build is due for completion by the end of 2025.

Water from the plant will be transferred to Water Corporation, which will distribute it to Rio’s port operations and nearby towns where hard – or calcium-rich – water has long been a talking point.

Announcing the project in June 2023, Rio Tinto said the plant size could be doubled to eight gigalitres per year down the line.

In February Rio Tinto engaged water treatment company Osmoflo on a $60 million contract to fabricate processing equipment for the plant.

Osmoflo will oversee installation and commissioning, with first water due to flow in early 2026.

GHD was in April brought on by Rio Tinto to undertake engineering design for the project.

About 300 jobs are expected to be created during construction.

Rio’s plant is separate to the recently announced 150-gigalitre desalination plant at Balla Balla planned by Legacie, Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation, and Suez.

Construction of what has been earmarked as a $5 billion development could begin in 2026, with its backers preparing to lodge plans to the Environmental Protection Authority.

Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation director Ken Walker on Monday said that project could result in $2 million a month in revenue flowing to benefit traditional owners.

First water from the Balla Balla plant has been planned for 2029.