We’re proud to mark the successful completion of our scope of work on the Prominent Hill Operations Expansion (PHOX) Project for BHP Copper SA. This was a significant milestone delivered through collaboration and technical expertise, highlighting our integrated service delivery.
Located approximately 650 kilometres north‑west of Adelaide, the Prominent Hill mine produces one of the highest‑grade copper concentrates in the world. Work on the expansion commenced in September 2024 and was completed during the first quarter of 2026, safely and efficiently delivering a complex, multidisciplinary outcome.
Senior Project Manager Steve Holloway said Prominent Hill was also one of the first fully integrated projects delivered following Melchor joining Monadelphous, providing an opportunity to showcase the combined strength of our in‑house capability.
Steve said the project was a strong demonstration of what an integrated delivery model can achieve.
“The project brought together multiple parts of the business, with Inteforge delivering detailed engineering, design and fabrication, the Heavy Lift team providing specialist engineering expertise and craneage, and Melchor delivering civil works alongside our traditional SMP and E&I scopes,” he said.
“Seeing the different parts of the business come together to deliver for our client really showed not only the breadth of our capability, but also the depth.
“Having everything aligned under a single delivery model added real value to the outcome.”
The engineering scope included work packaging for the winder, the surface materials handling system which incorporates three conveyors, as well as a brownfields expansion of the paste plant to support the site’s processing requirements.
Steve said one of the project’s most technically challenging elements was the installation of the winder, a highly complex mechanical assembly built to extremely tight tolerances.
“The winder is a very complex piece of equipment, and everything needed to be built and installed with a high level of precision to ensure it operates safely and reliably.”
The winder installation also required close coordination across multiple disciplines, including mechanical, electrical and instrumentation teams, particularly given its high‑voltage power requirements.
Steve said that this is where having great team members on site really makes the difference.
“The electrical involvement was also significant, from supplying HV power through to integrating the associated instrumentation, and the team handled it exceptionally well,” he said.
A huge thank you to everyone involved in delivering this project for your commitment to delivering for our customer.