Heavy equipment maintenance contractor FMS Group was named the Queensland Mining Contractor of the Year for 2026, at a glittering black-tie gala held in Mackay last night as part of the Queensland Mining and Engineering Exhibition (QME).
The 2026 Awards attracted over 70 entries, across eight categories covering productivity, technology, innovation, safety, collaboration and environmental initiatives. The rigorous peer-judging process produced a cohort of 26 finalists, with category winners and the overall Queensland Mining Contractor of the Year named during the biennial Gala Dinner.
FMS Group’s projects across three separate entries caught the judges’ attention, with all three projects demonstrating a strong commitment to innovation and challenging the status quo, producing measurable safety and productivity outcomes on site.
Mackay-based FMS Group impressed the judges with a strong engineered approach to removing both people from harm and days from shutdowns. Their Dipper Skid System cut electric shovel shutdown durations by 24 to 36 hours across six projects by eliminating live testing and crane interaction, turning a hazard that the industry had long accepted into one that no longer exists.
The company’s Safety Lift Solutions division also delivered what it describes as a world first, removing both engine modules from a Liebherr R9800 while the machine remained supported on jacks, work the original equipment manufacturer had advised could not be done. Run concurrently with a slew bearing changeout for a Bowen Basin client, it saved up to three days.
Judge Jason Economidis, Managing Director at AURA Mining, says FMS Group’s entries stood out for the way the company chose to solve its problems, by going after the hazard itself rather than writing another procedure to manage it.
“FMS Group deserves this recognition across multiple strong submissions this year, grounded in innovative thinking with outcomes in productivity and safety. They identified a choke point in heavy machinery shutdowns that industry had just accepted, designed their own solution, took it through certification, and then proved the case on site across multiple shutdowns with measurable outcomes.”
Over the course of the evening, the audience heard a keynote address from The Hon. Dale Last, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Minister for Manufacturing and Minister for Regional and Rural Development, and an industry address from Janette Hewson, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Resources Council
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