Redpath wins Evolution’s Bert, E22 work: underground development lens for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Redpath Mining has been named preferred underground contractor for Evolution Mining’s Bert project at the Ernest Henry copper-gold mine in north Queensland, and for the E22 project at the Northparkes copper-gold operation in New South Wales. The work packages, disclosed via a Redpath job posting, cover new underground development rather than open-pit activities, signalling additional decline, level access and ore drive development in both orebodies. For suppliers and labour, this points to near-term demand for underground development crews, ground support, and mobile fleet in two established Australian base metals hubs.
Technical Brief
- Contractor selection via job posting implies mobilisation is imminent and recruitment pipelines are already active.
- Separate awards to Redpath Mining and Redpath Australia suggest site-specific labour, fleet and management structures.
- Ernest Henry’s established underground infrastructure should allow tie-in development rather than greenfield shaft or hoist construction.
- At Northparkes, E22 underground work will likely integrate with existing block cave / sublevel cave infrastructure and materials handling.
- Both projects will require additional ground support consumables (bolts, mesh, shotcrete) and development jumbo capacity.
- Redpath’s role as preferred contractor signals negotiated contract structures rather than pure schedule-of-rates tendering.
Our Take
Our database already shows Redpath Mining holding a five‑year underground contract at Evolution Mining’s Cowal operations and being the named buyer in a SEK417 million Sandvik equipment order there, signalling that Evolution is consolidating a multi‑site underground delivery model around Redpath in Australia.
Redpath’s parallel shaft and development work for Brazil Potash and at Anglo American’s Woodsmith mine indicates it is leveraging deep shaft and complex underground experience globally, which is likely to be relevant for any deeper or more technically demanding phases at Ernest Henry in north Queensland.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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