Engineer spruiks ore upgrade solutions
March 2 - 8, 2010
WITH few exceptions the next generation of Australian iron ore mines won’t be exploiting the high Fe grades that have become staple in the diets of Japanese, Korean and Chinese steel mills over the past four decades, and that’s foremost in the thinking of Peter McSweeney in taking on agencies for allmineral Processing Equipment (aPE).
Rebuild it, and they will come
February 23 - March 1, 2010
WANT to tune into a reality TV show about the next Western Australian mining boom? Pull up a chair at Greg Pratt’s place near Pinjarra, 80km south of Perth, kick back and watch. Right now, things are starting to get interesting.
Logical move ups delivery rating
February 2 - 8, 2010
THE tendency with Logicamms might be to focus on what the company does next with its robust balance sheet and investor liking for its expansion strategy, but managing director Adam Keats can feel well pleased with what’s already transpired. Organic growth options have suddenly multiplied.
Slower recovery could see more engineers stumble
January 19 - 25, 2010
THE SHARP pullback in WorleyParsons’ shareprice after the Australian engineering giant announced slower than expected recovery in key markets is a clear indication of what’s in store for investors in other leading engineering and contracting companies, particularly those already trading strongly on forecast improvement in second half earnings.
Benefits starting to surface at Hera
November 23 - 29, 2009
A unique ore processing plant designed for underground deployment may deliver YTC Resources significant power and other cost benefits well before it becomes a fixture in what is expected to be a relatively shallow mine at Hera, near Cobar. For YTC CEO Rimas Kairaitas the decision to use it in a deeper mine, given the right ore, is a bit of a no-brainer.
Sedgman continues to spread global wings
November 23 - 29, 2009
AUSTRALIAN contractor Sedgman is tracking behind schedule on some new work, including major new coal projects in southern Africa, putting full-year profit projections at some risk. Shareholders heard at this week’s annual generating meeting full year earnings would be heavily weighted to the second half of the financial year.
Power play for Marengo
November 2 - 8, 2009
MARENGO Mining has the engineering firm that grew out of the epic Snowy Mountains hydropower project more closely examining hydro-electricity generation options around its proposed $US1 billion Yandera copper-molybdenum project in Papua New Guinea’s Madang province.
Benga to lift Sedgman revenues
October 26 - November 1, 2009
NO FORMAL announcement as yet, but those following engineering group Sedgman can shift $A100 million-plus from its $A280 million pipeline of “high-probability projects” into near-term revenues.
KHD confirms coal exit
October 5 - 11, 2009
CEMENT plant supplier KHD Humboldt Wedag International has completed the sale of its global coal and mineral processing equipment business to India’s McNally Bharat Engineering Co, retaining only the high pressure grinding roll mill products “where we see numerous opportunities”.
Engineering outlook ‘more light, less tunnel’
August 31 - September 6, 2009
A BETTER birds-eye view of the market, or just the different perspective of an industry giant? That’s what investors have to weigh up after hearing the downbeat outlook for metals engineering from WorleyParsons, and the contrasting optimism from relative international upstarts such as Sedgman and Ausenco.
CVR gives capital clamp the BOOT
August 24 - 30, 2009
ACCESS to capital continues to be a big problem for small resources companies, according to the latest Ernst & Young sector review, which also not surprisingly lists cost containment as a key industry focus. Central Asia Resources (CVR) managing director Jason Stirbinskis says not much has changed in the past 12 months.
Austin closes on Chile supplier
July 6 - 12, 2009
AUSTRALIAN mining equipment manufacturer Austin Engineering says it is on track to complete its South American acquisition by the end of this month after signing a binding agreement to proceed. The deal, which would create the world’s largest non-OEM mine dump truck body manufacturer, remains subject to completion by Austin of due diligence next week.
Monadelphous’ winning ways
May 25 - 31, 2009
IF WINNING business and staking new ground in a downturn is the hallmark of a sector leader, the GFC-induced mining bust could prove to be the making of Australian engineering company Monadelphous Group.
KHD to sell coal and minerals business
May 11 - 17, 2009
STRUGGLING engineering group KHD Humboldt Wedag International has confirmed it has entered into a memorandum of understanding to sell its coal and minerals arm to India’s McNally Bharat Engineering Company, though no significant details of the proposed sale have emerged.
Projects, support slips
April 27 - May 3, 2009
NEWCOMERS to the public company arena during the recent mining boom are finding that silence is death during a downturn when it comes to perceptions among their former “friends” in the analyst fraternity. Ausenco retains a measure of support, though, from Goldman Sachs JBWere.
Sedgman strategy on track
April 13 - 19, 2009
NEW South American coal plant contracts were a sign Sedgman’s international growth strategy was “slowly but surely beginning to gain traction” according to Goldman Sachs JBWere, with the $A56 million of new work in Chile and Colombia supporting its view market conditions were improving for mining service companies.
Sector rebounds on new footings
April 13 - 19, 2009
LOW news has been good news for leading Australian mining service and equipment suppliers, according to Goldman Sachs JBWere. The investment bank says large engineering groups, in particular, have found the bottom of the market and can now plot a relatively sure, though still bumpy, course forward.
Bateman snubs market
April 6 - 12, 2009
MARCH 30: AFTER more than a year of tantrums, the poor behaviour of financial markets has finally worn thin on Bateman Engineering, with the firm taking the decision to withdraw the Alternative Investment Market’s privilege to publicly trade its shares.
Playing its part
March 30 - April 5, 2009
FORTY-year-old Western Australian family-owned business Geographe had a birthday party last week but some notable contributors to its success weren’t invited to attend.
Testing gets good metallurgical response
March 23 - 29, 2009
GOOD operational news for Ironbark Gold hasn’t exactly translated into much positive market reaction just yet, but if the preliminary ore upgrade results from the company’s Citronen base metal project in Greenland are confirmed with further testwork, that situation won’t continue to be the case.
SKM ‘builds’ on some new concepts
March 23 - 29, 2009
SINCLAIR Knight Merz’ first coal processing plant design in Australia has been notable for two reasons: its extensive drawing on ‘virtual design delivery’ concepts, and the application of paste thickening technology as a means of significantly reducing water use.
Building for the future
March 8 - 14, 2009
SEDGMAN’S long-running focus on international markets became a narrower push last year to replicate the dominance it has achieved in its backyard, Queensland’s Bowen Basin, in similar offshore domains. Identifying the new ‘Bowen Basins’ was obviously a good starting point.
Lego for adults
February 23 - March 1, 2009
A SUCCESSFUL tender last week by AIM-listed Firestone Diamonds and South African engineering group ADP Projects, which together won the right to process the tailings reserve at the massive high grade Jwaneng mine in Botswana, has highlighted the emergence of a fresh approach to diamond processing that could change the industry – if the partnership can prove it works.
Growth challenge awaits reshaped consulting firm
February 9 - 15, 2009
THE ability of any small mining service company to prosper against bigger competitors in the current market has to be questionable. However, a Western Australian engineering firm claims to be competing on a more level playing field than this time a year ago and sees new opportunities amid the gloom.
Engineering a bigger pipeline
December 15 - 21, 2008
AUSENCO chief executive Zimi Meka doesn’t mind conceding 2009 is going to be a tough year for “everyone in the [engineering] space”. But that doesn’t mean he’s lost his sense of humour.
Diverse income base provides buffer: SNC-Lavalin
November 3 - 9, 2008
CANADIAN-LISTED engineering group SNC-Lavalin Group Inc says it remains positive about the year ahead and has nominated the aluminium, copper, nickel and iron ore sectors as areas which offer opportunities for its mining and metallurgy business segment.
Bateman shapes to rebuild value
October 20 - 26, 2008
BATEMAN Engineering has blamed a glut of ‘lump sum turn-key’ (LSTK) work in its order book for its volatile results and crippled share price and has denied that two recently departed senior executives were fleeing a sinking ship. According to the group’s chief numbers man, Pieter du Plessis, though the situation looks bleak, there’s still plenty of life in the old dog yet.
Broker says mining slowdown could hit Ausenco earnings
September 22 - 28, 2008
AUSTOCK Securities’ head of emerging companies research Craig Stranger is not waiting for bad news from Australian minerals engineering sector bellwether Ausenco. He’s declared that the $A1.2 billion company’s medium term earnings forecasts now deserve a “high risk rating” due to the question marks emerging over gold and base metals capital spending.
Ausenco one to watch: UBS
August 25 - 31, 2008
EMERGING engineering group Ausenco may have spread its wings at the right time, with large mining houses more likely to follow the oil industry model of awarding massive infrastructure contracts to individual, multi-disciplined suppliers in future, according to UBS Securities Australia.
Recycling the new boom theme
August 18 - 24, 2008
IT’S often said you can tell you’re in boom times when miners start concentrating on specialty metals such as molybdenum and tungsten. If that’s the case, what does it say about long-term mineral demand when the opportunities for recycling specialty metals start to grow?
Ausenco scores big Brazilian hit
July 28 - August 3, 2008
THE STING from an $A8 million hit from the Lumwana copper project in Zambia should be eased by Ausenco’s $US140 million port contract win in Brazil, according to UBS, “by far the largest ever won by the group, being some four times the size of the Ridgeway Deeps project for Newcrest Mining”, and the first big deal secured since the Australian engineer bought Canadian-based Sandwell in March this year.
Engineer plants coal flag
June 16 - 22, 2008
AUSENCO has snuck a major coal preparation plant construction deal with Vale in before firing up its new joint venture with American group Taggart Global. CEO Zimi Meka said he was pleased with Ausenco’s entry into the coal EPCM market space, but it was now down to business with Taggart.
Iron ore next for Ausenco
June 2 - 8, 2008
ASX-LISTED engineering group Ausenco has ticked one of its key expansion boxes with the move into coal via a joint venture with Taggart Global. The JV will pit Ausenco against successful Australian coal preparation plant builder Sedgman, and others, and give Ausenco a chance use its experience in Africa and parts of Asia to develop a coal leg.
UBS gives Ausenco thumbs up
April 14 - 20, 2008
AUSENCO’S strategic sense has been given a tick by UBS in the wake of it being named the preferred EPCM contractor for Oxiana’s $US310 million Martabe gold-silver project in Indonesia.
Sea change for Technip
April 7 - 13, 2008
DIRECT shipping ore is a phrase that will take on new meaning at Solwara 1 in Papua New Guinea territorial waters in the western Pacific Ocean, with AIM/TSX listed Nautilus Minerals Inc continuing to progress towards its planned 2010 start-up of the offshore mining project by awarding the US arm of French engineering group Technip a $US116 million contract to build a key part of the seafloor-to-surface mining system.
Welcome to the big league
March 10 - 16, 2008
HUMBLE, intelligent, highly regarded and highly ambitious. The head of Ausenco, the fast-growing Australian-based engineering firm that has now clearly signalled its intent to become a global sector leader, still maintains that if there isn’t enough room for all the company’s employees under the spotlight he doesn’t want to stand there by himself.
Austin no lightweight
February 25 - March 2, 2008
A NUMBER of now publicly owned and listed Australian mining service sector companies have failed to deliver on optimistic performance forecasts and their shares are in the doldrums. Many also suffer from not telling their story properly with one CEO recently telling HighGrade, “we’re just a boring microcap”! Sydney-based Southern Cross Equities (SCE) has put up “undervalued” Austin Engineering as a potential lead consolidator in the moribund sector.
Surprises galore
December 10 - 16, 2007
GEOLOGISTS don’t have the advantage of actually seeing what’s under the ground when they try to put together an accurate resource assessment for the board – and regulators. There is no such visibility barrier for project cost estimators, yet major errors of judgement at this point in the project development cycle are hurting the industry’s credibility.
Piecing together a solution
November 19 - 25, 2007
AUSTRALIA’S major petroleum company Woodside plans to bring in more than 200 modules of plant for its $A12 billion Pluto gas project in Western Australia as a way around the labour and skills shortages threatening development of some projects in the country’s boom resources region, the Pilbara. CEO Don Voelte said in Perth this week “modularisation” was the building method of the future.
SKM on the move
November 19 - 25, 2007
THE CREATION by leading privately owned engineering group Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) of a specialised mining group has underlined growing acceptance of alternative mine material movement systems in Australia.
Metals could add Sedgman shine
November 5 - 11, 2007
AUSTRALIA’S Sedgman is expected to win about a dozen new coal contracts and is seen as having real potential to increase its order book in metalliferous resources, the latter space currently dominated by the likes of Ausenco and Mineral Resources.
Bateman targets more EPCM
September 10 - 16, 2007
BRITISH-LISTED engineering group Bateman Engineering will step up efforts to diversify its revenue and earnings streams, and reduce costs, after confirming a year of strong growth in the 12 months to June 30.
SNC buys third Indian firm
September 10 - 16, 2007
SNC-LAVALIN has made its third acquisition in India in two years, buying the New Delhi-based infrastructure and environment engineering firm Span Consultants Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
Africa opening up for contractor
August 20 - 26, 2007
AFRICA continues to provide good business for engineering company Ausenco, with the latest $US145 million engineering, procurement and construction management contract for Mineral Deposits’ Sabodala gold project in the West African country of Senegal taking its combined order book on the continent to about $US700 million.
Making up the numbers
August 20 - 26, 2007
BHP BILLITON is spending $A300 million on a pre-feasibility study examining expansion of the Olympic Dam multi-metal operation in South Australia and has produced numerous presentations and reports on the magnitude and importance of the proposed development. Could all this seriously be threatened by a shortage of engineers?
Transfield may cast net wider
August 13 - 19, 2007
RECENT rejection by GRD of Transfield Services’ unwanted advances isn’t likely to be the end of the story, with the latter’s keenness to move into the project management space said to be fuelled by customer demand.
Bateman design has people at the centre
July 16 - 22, 2007
THE “RIGHT” acquisition has given Bateman Engineering’s drive to grow its business in Australia and South East Asia - and its intellectual capacity in one of the world’s major mining centres - a significant boost, according to the company’s regional chief.
Bateman lines up new targets
July 2 - 8, 2007
TOO EARLY to say, was the response from one of Bateman Engineering’s senior executives to a query about the identity of the company’s latest acquisition target. However, that has not stopped a London-based broker giving the deal its blessing.
Peer group fresher
June 25 - July 1, 2007
DON’T let the absence of good news fool you: WorleyParsons Ltd is travelling along nicely. Who says? Goldman Sachs JBWere, for one.
Obscure plant designer grows
June 4 - 10, 2007
LOW profile, slow growing and often overshadowed. That might be an apt way to describe Australian-based engineering group Lycopodium Ltd in relation to some of its more glamorous sector peers. But any negative connotations probably won't bother company executives, or shareholders.
Coffey to go deeper underground
May 28 - June 3, 2007
A PERCEIVED gap in the underground mining consulting market has convinced Coffey Mining to reinvigorate the project design and implementation arm of the former Global Mining Services business. It believes newly created Coffey Mine Development could become a major operating unit with up to 100 employees within two years.
VDM builds wide growth vista
May 28 - June 3, 2007
IT’S SO far, so good for VDM Group Ltd’s strategic acquisition model. The company is among a growing band of emerging groups working under a public spotlight intensified by Australia’s engineering construction boom. “I’m strongly of the view that in real terms there is no end to the current buoyant conditions,” says VDM chief executive John Farrell. But, he says, “we’re all on a bit of a treadmill”.
Coffey's cup is half full
April 16 - 22, 2007
COFFEY Mining is about half way to achieving its vision of being a truly global mining consultancy, chief operating officer Dan O’Toole told a recent gathering in Perth, Western Australia, to mark the bedding down of last year’s Coffey-RSG Global merger and RSG’s 20th anniversary. A big part of the balance of the vision is expected to be in place by the end of 2007.
Billion dollar Bateman
April 2 - 8, 2007
ACQUISITIONS could help Bateman Engineering NV find another gear in its pursuit of a medium-term annual revenue target of $US1 billion. While it is examining a number of small-to-medium-size businesses, the company also believes it is well positioned to make a major acquisition.
Runge moves into China
March 26 - April 1, 2007
THE EMERGING global mining consultancy Runge is weighing up options for funding further expansion after reaching its key $A100 million enterprise value target with the acquisition of Sydney-based consulting pair Minarco Asia Pacific and MineConsult. Among the options are an initial public offering, or large private equity funding.
Bateman builds India hub
March 19 - 25, 2007
INCREASED capacity to take on larger engineering projects has given Bateman Engineering NV chief executive Dr Sivi Gounden confidence to predict a “medium-term” annual revenue target of $US1 billion – more than double current levels. At this stage, investors can expect the bigger version of the South African-based, Dutch-registered, London-listed engineer to have a much stronger Indian flavour.
Some heartburn for hot Coffey
March 19 - 25, 2007
COFFEY International Ltd chief Roger Olds has rightly been receiving accolades for steering the international engineering firm’s rapid expansion. The latest, a national “Best consulting engineering firm” business service gong from clients in Australia, recognised the company’s diverse service offering – partly a result of its 14 corporate acquisitions in the past three years. But Olds must also contend with some growth hiccups, says an analyst with JPMorgan Securities.
Taking shape
February 22 - 28, 2007
EMERGING international engineering company Ausenco Ltd is targeting $US10 billion of new base and precious metal projects due to begin development cycles between now and 2010 to maintain its hot expansion pace after nearly doubling revenue and increasing its net profit by 137% in the 12 months to the end of December last year.
Sedgman builds CHPP dominance
February 15 - 21, 2007
SPECIALISED coal engineering firm Sedgman Ltd is keeping to the growth script outlined in the prospectus for last year’s initial public offering, this week clinching a $A346.4 million project alliance agreement with Anglo Coal to design and build the Lake Lindsay coal plant in central Queensland.
Stronger Coffey
February 1 - 7, 2007
AN $A80 million rights issue – the first by the company since its 1990 Australian Stock Exchange listing – and robust growth prospects in key markets have positioned Coffey International Ltd to continue its acquisition spree of recent years and report stronger earnings “for the next several years”, according to JPMorgan Securities.
Growth in the pipeline
January 25 - 31, 2007
WORLEYPARSONS Ltd’s impressive project pipeline could deliver stronger than expected growth for “a number of years”, according to a new investment note by UBS Securities Australia.
Watershed year for Bateman
December 14 - 20, 2006
BATEMAN Engineering has taken an early lead in the race among engineering groups to build a stable growth platform in India’s mining sector by securing a deal to expand capacity at a zinc concentrator in Rajasthan. The project makes it three-out-of-three in emerging markets for Bateman after it announced a major contract in Russia last week to go with the breakthrough earlier this year in China.
Three strikes
December 7 - 13, 2006
BHP Billiton has done it again in Western Australia. Three times inside the past decade the major diversified miner has developed big ticket projects in Australia’s premier mining state that have subsequently been shown to bear little resemblance to their respective feasibility studies. Two of them have been absolute shockers, while the third, the Ravensthorpe laterite nickel project, has got away to an ominously bad start.
Hungry Runge
November 23 - 29, 2006
RUNGE executive director Christian Larsen remembers when private equity fund managers could not, or wouldn’t, distinguish between mining companies and mining service firms. He should do; it was not that long ago.
SNC-Lavalin to stay a little longer
November 2 - 8, 2006
CONSTRUCTION of the world class Ambatovy nickel project on the island nation of Madagascar is on track to commence in the middle of next year after owner Dynatec Corporation clinched high-level Korean and Japanese backing earlier this week. The $US2.5 billion project will be built by Canada’s SNC-Lavalin, which has worked on Ambatovy for the past two years.
Right steps building global footprint
October 26 - November 1, 2006
WORLEYParsons Ltd is not just good at building energy and mining projects – it also continues to win plaudits for company-building acumen.
Hire and hire
October 26 - November 1, 2006
A BEEFED up recruitment program has helped position coal engineering group Sedgman for further growth after it finished the 2005-06 fiscal year with $A600 million of work in hand.
All go at Lumwana
October 19 - 25, 2006
EXECUTION of the $US407.6 million engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Lumwana copper project in Zambia has marked a further significant step in the emergence of Ausenco Ltd, which sees outstanding growth opportunities in Africa.
Gateway to Brazil
September 21 - 27, 2006
LEARN the language. Learn about the culture. Know the client well. That’s the advice for engineers and other companies looking to win business in Brazil.
Strong foundations for growth
September 7 - 13, 2006
RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED: it might sound like an unusual description to fit to an engineering services group working in the mining sector.
What goes up …
September 7 - 13, 2006
THE PREVAILING seller’s market for most major plant items will make it hard for engineering procurement and construction management (EPCM) contractors to pin down costs for key project building blocks for the foreseeable future, according to a leading Australian engineering services group.
