The Sino Iron ore project is the largest magnetite mining and processing operation in Australia. The plant delivers world class magnetite iron ore at about 140,000 tones per year and the processing plant will handle approx 80,000 tonnes annually.

​

The Cape Preston project in the Pilbara WA, is capable of producing 140,000 cubic metres/day of potable water for CITIC Pacific Mining’s Sino Iron ore mine. Designed to be one of the most electrically and chemically efficient plants in Australia, the Cape Preston plant is the world’s first large-scale desalination plant that was pre-assembled elsewhere due to the remoteness of the location.

​

The $140M large scale desalination plant was built to provide process water for use in transporting iron ore slurry from the mine to the outloading facility. The plant has sophisticated filtration technology to supply process water at 140,000 Megalitrers / day, similar to the city of Perth’s desalination plant.

​

A key challenge was to design the plant to overcome key environmental challenges through successful hydrocarbon, chemical and waste management within the bounds of a highly sensitive marine environment known for its biodiversity.