I do not think that NWH can advantageously invest in automation...

I do not think that NWH can advantageously invest in automation comparable to what makes sense for large owner-miners, who have the odd billion to invest, and they can guarantee themselves the tonnages to be mined and moved. At the big end of iron-ore mining, the tendency is for the miners to do more mining relative to mining service suppliers, not less. Also, NWH is at the Yahoo end of the brains-brawn spectrum – it shifts dirt, so it may not have the personality to to get into sophisticated technology.

The way to go in respect to mining services at the big end is for NWH to focus on tasks that cannot be automated to the degree that mining direct-ship ore can be automated – that is, focus on tasks like removing over burden, putting it back when the site is rehabilitated, building access roads and railways, tailing dams, crusher pads, and other non-processing infrastructures. There would always be a demand for concrete construction as part of the mix of work required to commission a new mine, or extend an old one.

There are, I imagine, always pockets of ore that do not lend themselves to significant automation-based mining, and these can be contracted to the likes of NWH as part of the total contract to supply the foregoing. Also, if the likes of RIO own a small pocket of high value ore, it would make sense to outsource that mining.

Conveyor-belt building and repairing fits into a category of work suitable for service companies, but whether it makes sense for NWH to enter that field is moot – it is probably well covered by competitors. NWH may be better advantaged by retaining and advancing its reputation as the preeminent railroad builder in WA.

Civil construction is less likely to lend itself to sophisticated automation, so becoming better equipped to do that work makes sense – hence the great advantage in acquiring Golding, which amongst other advantages, brings prequalification for road and bridge building. At the right price, acquiring a company like Whittens Pty Ltd would make sense. Advancing NWH's capability to do what Whittens does, especially in relation to concreting, may make more sense. NWH had to subcontract some of the Roy Hill concreting work to Whittens. Check the Whittens website if you want to get an idea of what it does, and where it operates. The website's information on Plant and Equipment makes patent that the Whitten's forté is concreting.