Tag Archives: Ausdrill

BTP and Peabody Australia extend Hunter Valley, Bowen Basin coal partnership

Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

Ausdrill’s earthmoving parts and equipment subsidiary, BTP, has secured a three-year extension to its existing contract with Peabody Australia.

The extension, worth A$126 million ($85 million) and effective from April 1, will see BTP continue to rent mining and ancillary equipment to Peabody’s coal mines in the Hunter Valley (New South Wales) and Bowen Basin (Queensland). Peabody has an option to extend the term of the agreement by a further two years should it so wish.

Ausdrill Managing Director, Mark Norwell, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract extension and look forward to continuing to provide equipment and related services to Peabody, building on the strong relationship BTP has formed with Peabody over a number of years.”

Ausdrill transformation starts to take shape following Barminco buy

Mineral exploration, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, , , , , ,

Less than four months after acquiring Barminco, Ausdrill says the integration of the two businesses is on target to deliver synergies of around A$11 million/y ($7.8 million/y) from its 2020 financial year.

This exceeds the previously stated target of A$5 million and is representative of both the new business structure Ausdrill has implemented and its growth strategy, the company said.

For the six months to end-December, Ausdrill said revenues were up 45.6% year-on-year to A$640.2 million, while underlying earnings before interest and taxes rose 27.6% to A$67.1 million. These results included two months contribution from the Barminco acquisition, which also included an additional 50% share in the two companies’ AUMS joint venture.

Ausdrill Managing Director, Mark Norwell, said the half-year results demonstrated the strength and diversity of the expanded Ausdrill group. “Importantly, the expanded Ausdrill group also secured over A$2 billion in new work since July 1, 2018, and successfully integrated the Barminco business, ensuring the company is set to deliver on its FY2019 guidance and is well positioned for FY2020.”

“Looking forward, we now have a more diverse and less capital-intensive group and have achieved this whilst maintaining a strong balance sheet that supports dividends and provides the flexibility to deliver on the strategy that has now been established.”

Ausdrill said the acquisition of Barminco made the company Australia’s second-largest mining services company.

Recently appointed Managing Director, Mark Norwell, said: “Ausdrill has done a great job in growing into a multi-national mining services company, but with the acquisition of Barminco and a refreshed structure, we have the opportunity to ensure the new Ausdrill has the best standards, a leading safety culture, and a constant focus on efficiencies to deliver for our customers, shareholders, communities and our 7,500 committed employees.

“In particular, a key focus is to transform our above ground operations in Africa, divest businesses that do not fit strategically, and ensure we are achieving best practice in the way we win and deliver work for clients across the group.

“We are also looking at ways to grow the business, such as expansion into new markets where we can have a competitive edge and into adjacent services that complement our existing portfolio.

“We expect to see continued strength in our core markets, particularly underground, and the Company remains on track to deliver its FY19 guidance of $98 million underlying net profit after tax.”

Barminco wins extension at Hindustan Zinc-owned Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Ausdrill’s recently added subsidiary, Barminco, has been awarded an underground mining services contract at the Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine in India from Hindustan Zinc worth approximately A$100 million ($71 million), the ASX-listed company says.

Hard-rock underground miner Barminco has operated at Rampura Agucha for Hindustan, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, since late 2016. The new underground mining services contract is for a three-and-a-half-year term, subject to review and mutual agreement of rates after the first year.

The scope of work includes the extension of development works that were being provided under a recently completed contract, plus the addition of production work in the Barminco-developed area of the mine. Under the contract, Hindustan will provide capital equipment and consumables. Barminco will commence work immediately, Ausdrill said.

Barminco CEO, Paul Muller, said: “We are very pleased to have been awarded a contract that extends our operations at the Rampura Agucha mine with an expanded scope to include production works. We look forward to deepening the relationship we have built with Hindustan Zinc over the past few years by delivering on this extended scope of works both safely and efficiently.”

Rampura Agucha is the second largest zinc mine in the world, according to Hindustan, with production of 3.9 Mt in the company’s 2018 financial year. It has a zinc-lead reserve grade averaging 15.7% Zn+Pb, with total reserves of 46 Mt as of March 31, 2018.

The ongoing underground mine project is being developed with a vision of producing 5 Mt/y of ore and includes a main production shaft of 955 m depth, 7.5 m diameter and hauling capacity of 3.75 Mt/y; two ventilation shafts, two declines from surface and paste fill plants, according to Hindustan.

Ausdrill’s Barminco to go underground at Regis Resources’ Rosemont gold project

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mineral exploration, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Having recently closed a deal to acquire fellow contractor Barminco, Ausdrill has announced A$171 million ($123 million) in new work across the mining space.

Its Barminco business has sealed a three-year underground mining services contract with Regis Resources at the Rosemont project (worth A$113 million), in addition to receiving the nod to perform decline rehabilitation and development works at Western Areas’ new Odysseus mine. Meanwhile, Ausdrill has booked a 12-month contract from Consolidated Minerals for the provision of exploration drilling services at the Woodie Woodie manganese mine. This comes on top of a similar contract with Bellevue Gold at its namesake project in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

Ausdrill Managing Director, Mark Norwell, said: “These new projects demonstrate the diversity of the expanded Ausdrill group across different projects and resources, solid progress of Barminco, and the professional service our businesses have been providing to our customers.”

Rosemont has been a fully operational open-pit gold mine since March 2013 and is one of three Regis projects in the Duketon deposit area, 130 km north of Laverton in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.

Regis recently approved expansion of the mine to an underground operation located directly below the current Rosemont open pit, with Barminco to perform development and production work at the underground deposit. In August, the Regis board announced it had approved the development of an underground mining operation directly below the current Rosemont open pit exploiting the maiden underground mineral resource estimate of 1.4 Mt at 5.1 g/t for 230,000 oz of gold.

Barminco will commence mobilisation immediately and expects to employ around 100 staff at the project. Onsite works will commence in the March quarter, including commencing portal development at the southern end of the Rosemont Main open pit.

Barminco CEO, Paul Muller, said: “This project adds to Barminco’s extensive experience in the Western Australia Goldfields, with current mining projects at Sunrise Dam and Agnew. We will draw on our deep capability across Barminco’s people, equipment, systems, processes, and expertise in underground mining to ensure we provide a safe and reliable service at Rosemont and look to build a strong, long-term relationship with Regis.”

Meanwhile, the company has already mobilised on the 14-month contract to carry out decline rehabilitation and development works at Western Areas’ Odysseus mine. The contract builds on Barminco’s 14-years of continuous service for Western Areas at Forrestania, which includes the Spotted Quoll and Flying Fox mines where Barminco is the mining services provider.

Ausdrill’s work at the Woodie Woodie manganese mine, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, will commence next month, will run for 12 months and will require five RC drill rigs and one diamond drill rig to be drawn from the company’s existing fleet.

The company has already kicked off work at the Bellevue gold project, which will require around four diamond rigs to be drawn from the existing fleet.

 

AUMS invests in more Immersive Technologies simulators

Mining equipment, Mining people, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

African Underground Mining Services (AUMS), a Barminco and Ausdrill 50:50 joint venture contract mining firm, has made further investment in simulators from Immersive Technologies after seeing successful results from the installation of previous training units.

The company has placed additional orders to increase its training capacity, including Professional Services to support the technology integration, Immersive said.

It comes after AUMS saw results from its initial deployment of two IM360 Simulator Platforms with Conversion Kits for Sandvik long hole drills, jumbo drills, LHDs and trucks, along with Conversion Kits for Cat trucks and LHDs.

Scott Miller, AUMS Group Environmental Health, Safety & Transportation Manager, said: “We are committed to investing into quality training that can be applied across new projects. We use the local workforce and the ability to train them using simulators has proven to be a vital part of on-boarding and continual improvement.”

AUMS provides a structured training programme using simulator technology to optimise the training process for inexperienced heavy equipment operators, according to Immersive.

“This structured approach extends to their Train the Trainer programme where, in mutual collaboration with Immersive Technologies, an annual TrainerAdvantage™ training session was conducted over a two-week period at the Immersive Technologies head office in Perth,” the company said.

Simon Vellianitis, Immersive Technologies, Regional Manager, said: “Training is important to AUMS and they have shown how that dedication can equate to dollars. We are proud to see the results they have achieved and honoured with their continued investment.”

Earlier this year, Ausdrill acquired Barminco in a deal that valued Barminco’s equity at A$271.5 million

AUMS wins contract at AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi mine in Ghana

Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , ,

African Underground Mining Services (AUMS) has been awarded a $375 million underground mining services contract at one of West Africa’s oldest mines, Obuasi, in Ghana.

The five-year contract at the AngloGold Ashanti operation will see AUMS team up with Rocksure International, a Ghana-based mining contractor, under a 70:30 joint venture.

AUMS, owned 50:50 by Ausdrill and Barminco Holdings, will provide a full suite of underground mining services at Obuasi, with major capital equipment supplied by AngloGold. Works are expected to commence in the March quarter, with some 550 people due to be employed during the project term.

Blair Sessions, AUMS Chief Operating Officer, said the company was pleased to extend its relationship with AngloGold, adding AUMS and Rocksure would “deliver on this project using modern and efficient mining methods, supporting local suppliers and providing employment and training opportunities to Ghanaians”.

Graham Ehm, AngloGold Executive Vice President – Group Planning and Technical – said the contract award was a major milestone towards recommencing production at Obuasi and delivering on outcomes that would benefit the national, regional and local economies.

Earlier this year, AngloGold said it would spend $450-500 million to redevelop Obuasi into a modern, productive mining operation. The mine had been in limited operating phase since 2014.

Since commencing operations in Ghana eight years ago, AUMS has trained over 1,200 Ghanaians through a range of mining, engineering and apprenticeship programmes, AUMS said. Ausdrill, meanwhile, has a 27-year history in the country through its African Mining Services (AMS) subsidiary.

AUMS and AMS, combined, employ more than 1,800 people in Ghana across five projects. The two businesses have generated around A$2.8 billion ($1.99 billion) of revenue in the country.

Ausdrill is currently in the middle of taking over AUMS JV partner Barminco in a deal that values the latter’s equity at A$271.5 million. Last week, Ausdrill shareholders approved the acquisition, paving the way for the deal to be completed by the end of the month.

Ausdrill receives investor cash to complete Barminco takeover

Base metals, Energy minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, , , , ,

Ausdrill has been given strong investor backing for its proposed takeover of leading underground hard-rock mining contractor Barminco, with its retail shareholders providing it with A$77 million ($55 million) of cash as part of a planned A$250 million equity raise.

This amount, on top of a similar institutional investor share offer that raised A$175 million, means the company now has the money in its coffers to complete the deal.

When the proposed deal was announced on August 15, Ausdrill Executive Chairman Ian Cochrane said adding Barminco to the fold would “broaden our strategic footprint to be Australia’s clear #2 mining services company and set in place a balance sheet with the capacity to achieve sustainable and profitable growth”.

The bid valued Barminco’s equity at A$271.5 million, together with $425.5 million of net debt, implying an enterprise value of A$697 million. The two companies know each other well being joint venture partner in the African Underground Mining Services company.

Shareholders will get to officially sign off on the deal at Ausdrill’s AGM on October 25.