Golding’s Stanwell Meandu coal mine pact: planning notes for pit and dump design
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Golding Contractors has secured a 5.5‑year Mining Services Agreement worth about A$750 million with TEC Coal at Stanwell’s Meandu coal mine in Queensland, starting January 2026 after a six‑month mobilisation. The contract covers overburden removal, coal mining, and associated services at the open‑cut operation that supplies the 1,460 MW Stanwell Power Station. For geotechnical and mine planners, the long tenor and scale signal sustained demand for large truck–shovel fleets, pit sequencing, and dump design in the Surat Basin coal measures.
Technical Brief
- Mining Services Agreement structured as a 5.5‑year term with a defined six‑month mobilisation phase.
- Contracting entity is NRW Holdings’ wholly owned subsidiary Golding Contractors, not NRW directly.
- TEC Coal Pty Ltd is the client counterparty, acting for Stanwell at Meandu mine.
- Commercial value quantified at approximately A$750 million, implying ~A$136 million average annual mining services spend.
- Start date fixed to January 2026, locking in medium‑term mine planning and fleet replacement horizons.
- Six‑month mobilisation window allows staged deployment of equipment, workforce ramp‑up and pre‑strip sequencing setup.
- Long‑tenor MSA structure supports multi‑year dump design refinement and progressive rehabilitation scheduling.
Our Take
Coal items are a minority within the 659 Mining stories in our database, so a new mining services award at Queensland’s Stanwell Meandu coal mine signals that brownfield coal operations in Australia are still attracting contract competition even as greenfield coal approvals tighten.
With the agreement at Stanwell Meandu only commencing in January 2026, contractors such as Golding Contractors Pty Ltd and parent NRW Holdings Limited are locking in medium‑term work visibility, which typically supports fleet renewal decisions and labour retention in Queensland’s mining services market.
Queensland coal projects in our coverage often face volatile regulatory and royalty settings, so a forward‑dated services pact at Stanwell Meandu likely reflects both the operator’s desire to secure costed capacity early and the contractor’s willingness to price in policy and market risk over the next few years.
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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