The construction of Gina Rinehart’s $10 billion Roy Hill iron ore project is almost 40 per cent completed, with first exports due to occur next year.
More than 3,000 people are currently employed at the project where a 55 million tonnes per year iron ore mine, 344 kilometres of heavy-haul railway, and two new shipping berths are being constructed.
Mining began two weeks ago.
Roy Hill said it had celebrated a milestone this week with contractor John Holland beginning to lay the rail track from the mine to the port.
Roy Hill project director Sanjiv Manchanda said the rail track-laying built on previous and ongoing work including Central System’s construction of the railway bridges, NRW Holdings’ civil work, Calibre Group’s early design work and Ansaldo STS’s communications and signalling systems.
“We are well advanced with the construction of eight bridges over waterways; in addition we will build two bridges over existing railway lines and two bridges over roads – so it’s no small feat,” Mr Manchanda said.
A Roy Hill spokesman said the project had not been affected by the collapse of Forge Group, with all staff returning to site within a week after labour hirer Skilled Group rehired them at the behest of contractor Samsung C&T.
"Whatever we lost that week we regained in the same month," he said.
