The much-needed good news follows a tough couple of months for the Leighton subsidiary, with contract terminations, site scale-backs and forced redundancies.

The construction, mining and services contractor signed an early services agreement with GVK Hancock this week for the development of a 10-year mine plan and budget.

In a joint statement the companies said Thiess’ expertise would be applied to develop the operational strategy and management plans for the operation.

GVK Group coal and infrastructure managing director Paul Mulder noted that Thiess had previously worked with the company in 2010 on Alpha bulk sample pit operations.

He said he was delighted to have Thiess return to move the project into the next phase.

The Galilee Basin mine is slated to commence production in 2016 and, when fully commissioned, the mine will produce 32 million tonnes per annum of thermal coal for the Asian export market.

Thiess Australian mining executive general manager Michael Wright said the team expected to finalise the operational strategy, mine planning and management plan by the end of the year.

“The next six months are a critical time for Thiess and GVK Hancock to work together to reinvigorate Australia’s position as the world leader in safe and highly productive operations,” Wright said.

“This means resetting the paradigm on everything from plant and equipment, local sourcing to robust employee relations.

“It’s about setting the tone for what will be Australia’s largest coal mine.”

Thiess managing director Bruce Munro added that the company aimed to provide mining solutions that would provide certainty of delivery regardless of the commodity cycle.

The open cut mine has an expected mine life of 30 years and a measured, indicated and inferred JORC-compliant resource of 1.82 billion tonnes.

According to GVK Hancock’s website, construction and overburden removal are expected to commence next year, with first shipments slated for 2017.

A rail and port development agreement to service the Galilee Basin was signed between GVK Hancock and transport company Aurizon in March.

Collectively, the proposed development of the rail and port infrastructure is expected to deliver export capacity of 60Mtpa.

Following completion of the transaction, Aurizon would gain the rights to operate and jointly manage with GVK the rail infrastructure and to exclusively provide above rail haulage from GVK Hancock’s Alpha and Kevin’s Corner mines.