Indigenous Civil Contractors at Silvergrass Mine.

Service Requirements at Silvergrass Mine

Civil works at Silvergrass Mine are shaped by the site's brownfields infrastructure footprint — including a 9 km overland conveyor corridor linking the pit to the Nammuldi processing facility and an active rail spur connection — which creates a layered civil scope encompassing earthworks, road maintenance, drainage management, and structural ground preparation across both operational and interface zones. Rio Tinto / Hamersley Iron Pty. Limited operates this open-cut hematite operation at a sustained production rate of 21 Mtpa, meaning civil contractors must integrate with live haul and conveyor traffic patterns rather than working in isolation from production. Indigenous Civil Contractors engaged at this site must hold demonstrated capacity to deliver civil scopes within an active Pilbara iron ore operation, with workforce composition and subcontracting arrangements that satisfy Rio Tinto's Indigenous participation requirements. Scope documentation should specify minimum verified Indigenous workforce participation percentage as a minimum performance threshold.

• Indigenous Participation Rate: Minimum 20% Indigenous Australian workforce participation by hours worked, verified via monthly payroll reporting and auditable against the contractor's Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) or equivalent Indigenous Employment Strategy submitted at tender stage.
• Civil Works Competency — Pilbara Ambient: Demonstrated delivery of earthworks, drainage, or haul road maintenance scopes in sustained ambient temperatures of 45°C, with peaks to 48°C — minimum 24 months of comparable Pilbara site exposure within the preceding 5 years, evidenced by signed client references and site-specific field service records.
• Mobilisation Capacity: Documented ability to mobilise a minimum civil crew of 8 personnel with appropriate plant to a remote Pilbara site within a 12–24 hour mobilisation envelope from point of call-out, supported by FIFO logistics planning via Paraburdoo or Tom Price airports and ground transfer capability across sealed and unsealed haul corridors.

Site-Specific Operational Constraints

Conditions procurement must communicate to all bidders in tender documentation for Silvergrass Mine.

• Environment: Sustained summer ambient of 45°C with recorded peaks to 48°C across the West Pilbara Mineral Field; civil plant and personnel must be rated and acclimatised for these conditions. Dust suppression requirements apply across unsealed civil work zones adjacent to active haul corridors. Wet season (November–April) introduces flash flooding risk to drainage and earthworks scopes — contractors must demonstrate wet-weather contingency planning in their methodology.
• Logistics: Silvergrass Mine sits approximately 1,080 km from Perth; Newman (~274 km) is the nearest service hub for personnel staging, plant maintenance support, and consumable resupply. All civil plant mobilised to site must be road-legal for unsealed haul corridor access and pre-approved under Rio Tinto's site vehicle management procedures prior to first entry.
• Response SLA: For unplanned civil works arising from operational disruption (e.g. haul road washout, drainage failure affecting conveyor corridor access), a 12–24 hour extended mobilisation SLA applies from point of notification. Contractors must submit documented Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) evidence from at least one equivalent Pilbara iron ore operation within the tender response.
• Roster: FIFO roster compatibility is mandatory; standard Pilbara patterns (2/1 or 4/1 week on/off) apply depending on scope duration. Standby crew availability during shutdown windows must be specified in the contractor's resourcing plan. All personnel must be cleared for FIFO access via Paraburdoo or Tom Price regional airports.
• Camp/facilities: Site-provided accommodation and messing facilities are anticipated for FIFO crews consistent with Rio Tinto's Pilbara camp standards; contractors must confirm self-sufficiency requirements for any personnel deployed outside the main camp footprint during remote civil works phases. PPE and consumable self-sufficiency for a minimum 7-day unresupplied period must be demonstrated in the logistics plan.

Contractor Capability Checklist

Minimum evaluation criteria for shortlisting Indigenous Civil Contractors at Silvergrass Mine. Each criterion must be verifiable via documentation submitted with tender response.

• Technical certifications: Relevant civil construction licences under WA Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 where applicable; plant operation competencies aligned to earthmoving and civil infrastructure scopes (e.g. grader, dozer, compaction equipment); AS 3798 compliance for earthworks compaction testing where fill placement is within scope.
• Personnel tickets: WA Construction Induction Card (White Card) mandatory for all site personnel; relevant WA plant operator licences (e.g. HR/HC licence for haulage, HRW licence for elevated work platforms or cranes if within scope); site-specific Silvergrass induction completion prior to mobilisation.
• Mobilisation SLA: Documented MTTR evidence from a minimum of one comparable Pilbara open-cut iron ore operation, demonstrating 12–24 hour mobilisation capability; evidence must include client contact details for verification.
• Public Liability insurance: Minimum AUD $20M per occurrence (Certificate of Currency required with tender submission).
• Professional Indemnity: Minimum AUD $10M aggregate — required where contractor scope includes civil design, drainage engineering advice, or geotechnical specification input.
• Workers Compensation: Full statutory cover under WA law (WorkCover WA — Injury Management Plan required and must be submitted with tender response).
• Site exposure: Minimum 3 years of civil contracting experience on active open-cut iron ore operations in the Pilbara, with at least one project involving earthworks or infrastructure works within a live production environment (haul road, conveyor corridor, or processing plant interface).
• Safety systems: HSE management system certified to ISO 45001 or equivalent; demonstrated ICAM (Incident Cause Analysis Method) investigation capability required; all systems must be compatible with Rio Tinto's "Everyday HSEC" framework and site-specific induction requirements.

Regulatory & HSE Framework

All civil contracting activity at Silvergrass Mine is governed by the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) and the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022 (WA), administered by WorkSafe WA as the statutory safety regulator for mining operations in Western Australia. Civil contractors operating in an active open-cut iron ore environment carry specific duties under this framework with respect to plant safety, ground disturbance, and interface management with production traffic — these obligations must be reflected in the contractor's submitted Safe Work Method Statements and HSE management plan. Prequalification and ongoing compliance monitoring for suppliers to Rio Tinto / Hamersley Iron Pty. Limited is managed through the Avetta + Rio Tinto Supplier Portal; registration on this platform is mandatory prior to RFQ participation, and procurement teams must confirm active portal status for all shortlisted contractors before issuing scope documentation. All contractors must complete site-specific induction via Rio Tinto / Hamersley Iron Pty. Limited procedures before mobilisation, with no exceptions for personnel with prior Pilbara site experience at other operations.

Sourcing Qualified Contractors

The regional supply base for Indigenous Civil Contractors capable of servicing the West Pilbara Mineral Field is materially constrained. Current intelligence from the WA Mining Index identifies approximately five listed Indigenous Civil Contractors with Pilbara regional coverage — a shallow pool relative to the civil scope complexity that Silvergrass Mine's active conveyor and haul infrastructure generates. Larger contractors with established Indigenous participation frameworks, such as Carey Group Holdings, hold prequalification with major Pilbara iron ore operators and represent the upper tier of available capacity; however, procurement must assess whether their Indigenous workforce participation rates and RAP commitments align with site-specific requirements rather than assuming prequalification status is sufficient. Newman (~274 km from site) functions as the primary labour staging point for civil crews mobilising to Silvergrass, and contractors without an established Newman or Tom Price presence will carry additional mobilisation cost and schedule risk that must be quantified in tender evaluation. Given the limited depth of this market, procurement teams engaging this category must allow a minimum of 8–12 weeks for prequalification, portal onboarding via Avetta + Rio Tinto Supplier Portal, and Indigenous participation plan assessment before RFQ close. Early market engagement — including an Expression of Interest phase — is recommended to validate actual available capacity before committing to a competitive tender timeline.