Perth-based CPC Engineering has entered into what is says is a ground-breaking joint venture with African companies to service the continent’s mining industry. Africa Project Partnerships, formed in the first quarter of 2019, brings together companies with expertise across a range of disciplines with the ability to deliver EPC and EPCM projects. APP is working in close cooperation with the South African Government through its Department of Trade and Industry and the Industrial Development Corporation.
The agencies provide quality market information, trade statistics and product analysis and the prospect of project development funding. The companies in the APP joint venture have more than five decades of experience in the mining industry and more than three decades of experience in executing projects across Africa.
APP is examining several projects in mining and heavy industrial process in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The African joint venture partners are Advent Construction, based in Tanzania; Fenix Construction, Mozambique; Gear Mining Construction, Botswana; Ignite Energy, South Africa; Steel Services and Allied Industries, South Africa; Strutfast Cable Management Solutions, South Africa; and Power Plant Electrical Technologies, South Africa.
Together they employ 1,100 people and have completed 15 projects throughout Africa in the past five years valued at $120 million, including the Katanga Mining Rehabilitation, Democratic Republic of Congo; Wassa Gold mine advancement to underground and Prestea Gold Mine underground mine rehabilitation in Ghana; Unki Platinum Mine new smelter construction, Zimbabwe; and Mopani mine headgear, Zambia.
“The joint venture enables CPC Engineering, which employs more than 300 people and has a wealth of experience in Africa, to benefit from the highly regarded reputations and experience of its partners. CPC Engineering has successfully delivered multimillion-dollar projects for graphite, nickel, copper and diamond operations in Mozambique, Zambia, Ghana, DRC and South Africa.”
These include a range of design, construction and maintenance services for the Balama Graphite project in Mozambique; Enterprise Nickel project, Zambia; Glencore Zambia copper mine, Zambia; Petra Diamonds Cullinan project, South Africa; Ferrochrome smelter, South Africa; Kamoa Copper Company, DRC; Golden Star Resources underground mine, Ghana.
There are two lead companies in the joint venture: CPC Engineering is the lead company in the technical aspects, coordinating all input required by the South African partners; Power Plant Electrical Technologies is the financial lead company, facilitating all funding requirements for research, development and execution funding.
CPC Engineering Chief Executive Glen Weir said the joint venture was a commercially competitive extension to the value proposition CPC could offer to its existing and new clients and their projects on the African continent. “The South African partner companies are industry leaders in services, manufacturing and construction and have a depth of experience in the intricacies of executing projects on the Continent,” Weir said.
“We have a long-term outlook on our venture and believe in building trust and solid relationships with our clients for advancing projects to implementation. There are a number of specific skills that CPC offer to the venture: engineering, design, drafting, procurement support, contract and project management and commissioning support. The venture has been structured to avoid duplication of functions and their associated costs, therefore directly translating to a competitive and holistic project development and execution cost structure.”
Weir said there had been a push since at least 2003, when specific laws were passed, to develop and empower South African companies to ensure local participation and skills transfer, community improvement and long-term sustainability in projects. CPC Engineering has experience in the South African regulations being adopted in various forms across the African continent. The joint venture is structured in a way that ensures its regulatory compliance so that it can supply clients with the full project value chain of engineering, manufacturing and construction.
“A lot can be said for mining opportunities in Africa as it remains the richest mineral continent in the world,” Weir said. “With the fourth industrial revolution upon us and a continual focus on greener energy we will see advancement in technology consuming more mined metals and minerals over the years to come.”
Representatives of the joint venture partners will be at the three-day Africa Down Under conference that starts in Perth on Wednesday, September 4.
