The scope of supply includes engineering design, procurement and construction for the Shondoni mine in 2013-15.

The Shondoni project will expand on the existing Middlebult mine, near Secunda, and is estimated to have 190 million tons of reserves and a 20-year mine life.

It will employ underground and surface mining techniques and represents part of a $588 million plan to develop three coal mines in the area.

Sandvik president Gary Hughes said the project would demand versatility across a number of services and operations.

“The size and complexity of this system, and the fact that Sandvik provides a complete integrated mining system of Sandvik surface and underground mining equipment, again demonstrates our capability to deliver wide-ranging high-tech solution in the area of continuous mining and materials handling applications,” he said.