Preferred contractor selected for Rotowaro Opencast Mine

31 May 2011

Preferred contractor selected for Rotowaro Opencast Mine

Solid Energy has selected Stevenson Mining Ltd as the preferred contractor to take over from HWE Mining Ltd following expiry of the current contract at its Rotowaro Opencast Mine in the Waikato later this year. This follows full evaluation of both contract mining and owner mining options for the mine.

Stephen Esposito, Solid Energy’s Acting General Manager Opencast Operations says: “The contract to remove overburden (rock and other material above the coal seams), extract and process coal and progressively rehabilitate the mine site would be for five years. Once we’ve finalised the agreement Stevenson Mining will make information about its recruitment process and timeline available to people currently working at Rotowaro Mine.”

Stevenson Mining is one of the five subsidiary operating businesses of the Stevenson Group; a 100% family-owned, New Zealand company that in 2012 will mark 100 years of operation. The other businesses include concrete and aggregate, engineering, agriculture and properties. Stevenson Mining has operated quarries at Drury and Huntly for many years.

Stevenson Mining has previously mined in the Waikato at the Kopako mine at Maramarua and at Solid Energy’s Ohai opencast operation in Southland. Its full range of technical and operational mining expertise is supported by a wholly-owned fleet of heavy equipment and over 70 years of heavy machinery experience.

Currently the Rotowaro mine employs around 160 people, producing approximately 1.3 million tonnes of coal annually, the majority of which is supplied under contract to Genesis Energy’s Huntly Power Station and Bluescope New Zealand Steel’s plant at Glenbrook. Solid Energy expects to continue mining at Rotowaro to around 2017 with overall numbers of people required at Rotowaro expected to fluctuate as the mine reaches the end of its life.

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