Hevilift Australia awarded Mount Holland FIFO contract

Hevilift Australia (Brisbane Int’l) has been awarded a new long term contract by Covalent Lithium for fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) charter services to support the lithium producer’s new Mount Holland mining project under construction in Western Australia, the company announced.

The contract is being served by Hevilift Australia’s Perth-based fleet of ATR72-500s, Chief Executive Officer and Country Manager Ashley Roy, announced on social media. According to FlightRadar24 ADS-B data, the company currently has two ATR72-500s based in Perth: VH-FVH (msn 954) and VH-FVM (msn 979).

“The first flight was conducted today, and we are extremely proud of the faith and trust placed in us by Covalent for the supply of flights supporting the construction and subsequent operation of their new Mount Holland Lithium Project,” he said.

Based at Brisbane Int’l, Hevilift Australia opened its Perth Int’l operating base in September last year with the express purpose of conducting FIFO charter work for the mining and resources sector. It also added its own line maintenance capability and spare parts depot in Perth.

The charter specialist operates four ATR72-500s, of which three are leased from Avation and one from Nordic Aviation Capital. The aircraft from Avation were formerly with Virgin Australia and returned to the lessor when the airline entered administration.

Hevilift Australia also operates two ATR42-300(F)s (one in-house and one owned by Airwork Flight Operations (PST, Auckland Int’l)) and operated for Toll Aviation (TFX, Brisbane Archerfield); and owns one ATR42-300 that is currently stored at Cairns, according to ch-aviation fleets advanced data.

Covalent Lithium is the manager appointed by a joint venture between subsidiaries of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) – one of the world’s biggest lithium producers – and Wesfarmers Limited – a leading Australian listed company – to develop and operate the Mount Holland Lithium Project.

The Mount Holland mine and concentrator are located around 500km to the east of Perth and 105km south of Southern Cross in Western Australia. The project also involves the construction of a refinery at Kwinana, 35km south of central Perth. Once construction is completed, the venture will produce 45,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year for use worldwide in lithium batteries.