November 16 2007

A materials handling system, built and designed by Laing O'Rourke, won a major award at the 2007 Australian Bulk Handling Awards held in Sydney last night (15 November).

Laing O'Rourke and its client Wesfarmers took out the top honour in the Bulk Handling Facility of the Year (Resources and Infrastructure) category for the Curragh North Materials Handling Project.

The company also received a highly commended in the transport and conveying technology category for the same project.

The $130 million materials handling project includes the world's longest single flight conventional conveyor, measuring 20.02 kilometres; a run of mine dump station; crushing and screening plant and improvements to the existing coal handling systems.

Infrastructure North Manager Allan Miller said it was wonderful to receive industry recognition for the project.

"There were a lot of challenges involved in the design and construction of this project, but through a rigorous research and design process the team was able to find solutions," he said.

"They achieved major improvements on conventional conveyor technology, with the new high-tech facility delivering significant savings in both capital and operating costs."

The project at the Curragh mine, 200 kilometres west of Rockhampton in central Queensland, was completed in July 2007.