Sojitz Coal Mining has officially taken ownership of the Gregory Crinum mine, which is located near Emerald in central Queensland, from BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture partners BHP and Mitsubishi Development.

Cameron Vorias, CEO and managing director of Sojitz Coal Mining, said: "The selection of DRA Global as our partner for the recommencement of operations at Gregory Crinum signifies another milestone in Sojitz's vote of confidence towards the Australian coal industry.

"Recommencement of mining operations at Gregory Crinum will deliver significant benefits to all our stakeholders, in addition to ensuring security of supply of hard coking coal to our valued customers, as well as providing jobs and strengthening the economy for the people in the Emerald, Springsure and Cappella Area and the state of Queensland."

Vorias added: "DRA offered the best solutions in relation to the refurbishment of the processing plant and the overall operations and maintenance philosophy, and providing true integrated maintenance through their wholly owned maintenance business G&S Engineering."

The restart of Gregory Crinum will be delivered in two stages, with the first stage focusing on the refurbishment of the processing plant followed by the full operations and maintenance contract of the processing plant for the next three years.

Greg McRostie, executive vice president of DRA in APAC, commented: "The establishment and offering operations and maintenance services across Australia and southeast Asia has been part of DRA's global diversification strategy. This is further enhanced through the acquisition of G&S Engineering services in July, which enables DRA to offer our clients a truly integrated solution from managing studies and projects through to the operations and maintenance of processing facilities."