Downer landed a total of $A2 billion of contracts for five years of services at this mine and BMA’s Goonyella Riverside mine in 2010.

According to some analyst estimates, Downer’s load and haul of prestrip material contract at Norwich Park would have generated the contractor about $200 million of revenue for this financial year.

“We are in discussions with BMA about the deployment of Downer workers to other BMA sites,” a Downer spokesperson told ILN.

BMA has blamed the high Aussie dollar and unfavourable mining conditions over its move to close Norwich Park.

Both BMA and union officials have downplayed the significance of their ongoing multi-site industrial relations dispute in regards to the mine closure.

In other news this week, Downer has won a contract of around $90 million to provide blasting services over three years to the Jellinbah Group’s namesake mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

The contractor said the deal enhanced its position as the leading supplier of blasting services in the southern Bowen Basin.