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| Iron ore is being loaded onto a bulk ship at Port Hedland, Western Australia, Wednesday. Samsung Construction and Trade (C&T) made the first shipment of iron ore excavated from the Roy Hill Mine, which will be delivered to POSCO at Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. / Courtesy of Samsung C&T |
By Lee Hyo-sik
Samsung Construction & Trade (C&T) made the first shipment of iron ore excavated from the Roy Hill Mine in Western Australia, Wednesday, 32 months after the company began the $5.8 billion project.
The first load of iron ore will be delivered to POSCO's main plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.
The construction arm of Samsung Group said it loaded 100,000 tons of ore onto a bulk ship at Port Hedland, Western Australia.
In April 2013, the company won the contract to construct the infrastructure of the iron ore mine. The deal was the largest that Samsung C&T has ever made in the construction of overseas resources infrastructure.
The builder has been constructing the mine's processing plant facilities, a 347-kilometer railway line and port facilities, since it won the order from Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill Holdings.
For the past 32 months, 2,400 workers and 2,000 pieces of construction equipment were mobilized to undertake the massive infrastructure project to process and transport iron ore excavated from the mine. The company also said it used 300,000 tons of various construction materials to complete the project.
The processing plant will handle about 55 million tons of iron ore annually and ship it to POSCO and other steelmakers. Roy Hill is estimated to hold 2.4 billion tons of iron ore reserves.
"Despite countless challenges, Samsung C&T aligned itself with Roy Hill's key objectives and invested significant resources to realize the shipment of ore, commenced only 32 months after we began the project," Samsung C&T CEO Choi Chi-hun said while attending a ceremony to mark the first shipment.
"When we first became involved with Roy Hill, many people questioned why we would take on such an ambitious project in one of the harshest regions of Australia with a landscape and climate so different from Korea," he said. "But our employees worked hard to complete the project. Samsung C&T and partners have established a sound long-term relationship, which we believe led to our successfully achieving this historical milestone."
Using the successful completion of the Roy Hill project as a stepping stone, Samsung C&T is seeking to secure more infrastructure and resources development projects in Australia.
"We have built solid and professional long term relationships with subcontractors and other business partners through the Roy Hill project, which bodes well for further work in Australia," Choi said.
Samsung C&T was awarded the WestConnex Motorway project in a joint venture with Leighton Contractors and John Holland, who worked on the Roy Hill project together with the builder.
"We look forward to further opportunities to work on other major Australian infrastructure and resource development projects," the CEO said.
