WestStar Industrial Ltd’s engineering contractor business, Alltype Engineering, is to help build an iron ore mine plant at the Rio Tinto-owned Koodaideri project in the Pilbara of Western Australia, thanks to a contract award from Laing O’Rourke.

The Phase 1 Structural, Mechanical, and Piping package for the mine plant comes with a value of around A$6 million ($4.4 million) for fabrication works plus associated modularisation scopes, WestStar says.

The execution plan developed by Laing O’Rourke, the managing contractor, is based upon substantial preassembly and modularisation of the structural steel elements at Alltype’s Naval Base facility, in Western Australia (pictured). The contract win takes immediate effect with delivery and install dates up to January 2021, it said.

“The works to be performed leverage off the core competencies of the company with similar delivery strategies utilised for oil and gas, petrochemical and infrastructure projects in the past,” WestStar said.

Koodaideri is a greenfield mine development, around 35 km northwest of the Yandicoogina mine in the East Pilbara mining region. The mine will initially be developed as a nominal 43 Mt/y high-grade, dry processing operation. First production is expected in late 2021.

WestStar acquired Alltype Engineering last year in a deal that involved an upfront payment of around A$5.9 million, along with a deferred consideration subject to Alltype achieving its 2020 financial year targets.

Alltype Engineering Managing Director, Kelvin Andrijich, said: “Alltype Engineering undertook a significant strategic shift in direction in 2017, focusing on multi-discipline construction solutions, technology partnerships with OEMs and leveraging off the well-established industry exposure developed over 35 years of operation. This strategy continues to unfold with our established local fabrication capability and by building upon successive projects delivered of increasing scale and complexity with existing and new clients.

“The support of our new owner, WestStar Industrial, allows the group to execute larger contracts previously constrained by working capital, as well as start to expand the operational footprint to the east coast of Australia where there is further market opportunity for this offering.”