Australia-based EPCM major, Ausenco Ltd, has announced that its 50%-owned subsidiary Kramer Ausenco has been awarded a A$4 million per year  “program management engineering alliance” contract at gold and copper mine OK Tedi in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The alliance will involve Kramer Ausenco working directly with OK Tedi’s on-site engineering and other staff and will include works on the processing plant, the mine itself as well as other aspects such as the power and infrastructure systems at the operation, which is in PNG’s Western Province.

The contract will run until the planned mine closure in 2013 and also covers follow-up work to complete mine closure commitments. Some of this will include Mine Life Extension planning which could extend the mine life by another seven years to 2022. OK Tedi’s own official summary of this work states: “The management is in the process of undertaking a feasibility study to extend mine life as an alternative to closure. OTML management considers this to be a genuine opportunity to extend mine life by another seven years from 2014 to 2022 by a combination of two underground mines and one open pit operation.”

Ausenco referred to its other recent successes in PNG, including the award of an on-site operational training and maintenance support contract at the Hidden Valley mine in PNG for the 50:50 Harmony/Newcrest owned Morobe Mining Joint Venture.