In November 2018, BHP awarded thyssenkrupp's Industrial Solutions business area with a €150 million contract to design, supply, construct and commission two stackers that will deposit iron ore into stockyards for loading, and a reclaimer for loading the ore onto trains for transport to Port Hedland.

thyssenkrupp said the two fully autonomous stackers and reclaimer are monitored from a remote control room. It also developed them with the latest statutory requirements for functional safety, as defined in AS4024 and AS61508; for machine collision avoidance, a combination of GPS, SIL-rated encoders and limits were used.

The machines, with a loading capacity of 20,000 tonnes per hour, are currently being pre-assembled offsite at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC), in Henderson, south of Perth, by Australian engineering group Primero.

Once transported to the South Flank site, the construction of the machines is expected to start by the end of January 2020.

thyssenkrupp said the fist machine will be commissioned and ready for first ore in line with BHP's 2021 target.

Zoran Matijevic, project director for South Flank at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Australia), said the thyssenkrupp team had achieved its 50% overall project progress milestone ahead of the plan.

"I look forward to logistics, construction and commissioning phases and final handover of this equipment," he said.

thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Australia) CEO Johann Rinnhofer added that the project had created hundreds of jobs in Western Australia since September 2018.

BHP believes South Flank's digital connectivity, autonomous-ready fleets and modular design wouls make its Mining Area C one of Australia's most advanced mines. It involves construction of an 80Mt/y crushing and screening plant, an overland conveyor system, stockyard and train loading facilities, procurement of new mining fleet and substantial mine development and pre-strip work.

thyssenkrupp's Industrial Solutions global mining business unit recently streamlined its operations to fully focus on mining equipment, with its engineering centre of excellence for materials handling located in Perth.