PT Thiess secured an initial A$585,000 plant hire contract in May 1993 at the Kideco Coal Mine in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The initial scope of works was increased and extended until June 1997, with a final value of A$73 million. Thiess then commenced work on concurrent six-year interburden and coal hauling contracts with a total value of A$227 million.

Located some 150km southwest of Balikpapan, the project involved the haulage of over 14 million tonnes of coal to port. The interburden was collected from the North and South Roto, with Thiess responsible for haul road and dump construction, and loading, haulage and dumping of coal.

The overburden/interburden removal contract was initially estimated at 76 million BCM in the six-year period. In June 1999, the estimated quantity for removal had increased to approximately 130 million BCM. The work was undertaken using a fleet of Liebherr R994, Komatsu PC1600 and O&K RH170 Excavators loading CAT785 and CAT777 dump trucks.

The coal hauling involved loading from the mine site silo and transporting to the port facility 38.5km away. Following the expansion of the mine, the original contract production of 180,000t/month was increased to 250,000t/month.