Tag Archives: Emeco Holdings

Pit N Portal to help revive Mincor’s Kambalda nickel operation

Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mincor Resources has awarded underground mining services and equipment hire group Pit N Portal with the underground mining contract for its 100%-owned Kambalda nickel operations in Western Australia.

The contract encompasses a five-year pact for the new Cassini nickel mine, where early surface works were recently completed, and a three-year contract (plus one two-year option) at the Northern Operations (the brownfields Durkin North and Long nickel mines – both of which are on care and maintenance having previously operated). These two assets (Cassini and Northern Operations) make up the planned nickel operation.

Pit N Portal was awarded the contract following the completion of a competitive tender process and a due diligence process led by Mincor’s Chief Operating Officer, Dean Will, examining safety, Kambalda underground experience and performance, capabilities, equipment availability and cost, the company said.

All key components of the contract are in line with the parameters set out in the Nickel Restart Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) completed in March 2020. This was based on an initial five-year operation from two production centres with all ore processed at BHP Nickel West’s Kambalda nickel concentrator and the resulting nickel concentrate sold to BHP. The DFS envisaged 63,000 t of recovered nickel-in-concentrate output for an estimated pre-production capital expenditure of A$68 million ($41 million at the time).

Mincor has executed a binding contract with Pit N Portal subject to a Notice to Proceed being issued by Mincor before March 31, 2021.

The development company says it is targeting the commencement of mining operations at Kambalda in the second half of 2020, subject to board approval and a final investment decision on its Nickel restart plan. It said previously first nickel-in-concentrate production could be achieved in the second half of 2021, subject to COVID-19-related restrictions.

Established in Kalgoorlie in 2002, Pit N Portal has expanded its capacity and capability to encompass total, whole-of-mine solutions across Australia, and has significant underground mining contracts in Western Australia and Queensland. It was acquired by Emeco Holdings earlier this year.

Mincor’s Managing Director, David Southam, said the award of the contract to a Kalgoorlie-based business was consistent with the company’s commitment to maximise local content, to support local businesses and communities, and to create opportunities for a residential workforce wherever possible.

“We selected Pit N Portal based on a wide range of criteria including safety, performance, contract cost, experience and capability, ability to meet our mobilisation timelines and the size and quality of their contract fleet.

“Their equipment fleet suits our proposed style of mining and, as one of Australia’s largest hard-rock underground mining equipment solutions providers, we will have access to a large range of equipment options and high-class maintenance and rebuild capacity – giving us significant operational and strategic flexibility, which is important when operating a number of underground mines.

“This includes having access to the Emeco operating system, which could add significant value to future operations, as well as having a contracting partner that is willing to embrace the very latest in mining technology and data management and usage, including the proposed use of underground electric vehicles, which we have already trialled.”

Mincor has also completed – on time and budget – all works associated with the Early Works Contract at Cassini project. This work, carried out by Hampton Mining and Civil Services, included clearing of the Cassini site area, excavation of the box-cut (pictured), construction of the site office pad, magazine and waste areas and construction of the surface settling dams and haul road.

Emeco to go underground with Pit N Portal acquisition

Automation, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , ,

Emeco Holdings looks to have found an entry into the underground contract mining and equipment rental space after having signed an agreement to acquire Pit N Portal in a deal that comes with an enterprise value of A$72 million ($49 million).

The binding agreement would see Emeco acquire Pit N Portal Mining Services and Pit N Portal Equipment Hire, two entities that come with over 100 pieces of specialised underground mining equipment, over 500 pieces of infrastructure equipment and employs more than 300 people across strategic locations in Perth and Kalgoorlie and customer sites across Australia.

Emeco made this announcement on the same day it issued its 2020 financial half year results, which saw the company post revenue of A$246 million (up 10% year-on-year), operating EBITDA of A$119 million (up 16%) and operating EBIT of A$67 million (up 12%). The company has, in the last few years, acquired Force Equipment and Matilda Equipment as it looked to strengthen its equipment rental business in surface mining.

The consideration for the acquisition consists of A$62 million in cash and A$10 million in Emeco shares to the vendors, with the buy expected to be earnings per share accretive on a financial year 2019 pro-forma basis, post transaction.

Emeco Managing Director and CEO, Ian Testrow, said: “Pit N Portal allows Emeco to leverage its current core capabilities and expand into a new market. The underground mining sector is undoubtedly growing, and this represents an attractive adjacency for Emeco, providing Emeco with a solid platform for growth. Pit N Portal also provides us with significant commodity diversification by immediately more than doubling our gold exposure with strong opportunities for further growth in hard-rock projects.”

Established in 2002, Pit N Portal specialises in the provision of hard-rock underground mining equipment and services to the Australia underground mining sector. Core operations include equipment rental as well as mining services and maintenance solutions for underground mines. It operates the largest underground equipment rental fleet in Australia, according to Emeco.

Continued growth in Pit N Portal is expected post-completion driven by new project and scope expansion opportunities, with major projects’ earnings realised in the 2021 financial year.

“Pit N Portal’s key services add to the core of Emeco’s existing business, including equipment hire and maintenance solutions,” the company said. “Pit N Portal also adds a vast array of additional value-added services to its customers, providing a complete mining services offering.”

Steve Versteegen, Co-Founder and CEO of Pit N Portal, said: “I truly believe the combination of the two companies will help accelerate the growth of Pit N Portal and am excited by the opportunity to extend the application of what we do to the broader Emeco business.”

Emeco said the transaction provides a strong platform for Emeco to grow as a provider of underground mining services with a solid tender pipeline, particularly in Western Australia-based gold, nickel and base metals projects. There are also potential operational advantages through Pit N Portal’s strategically located workshops in Perth and Kalgoorlie, it added.

It would also significantly diversify Emeco’s commodity exposure, with gold more than doubling immediately to from 12% to 27% of Emeco’s revenue and becoming the number two exposure.

Pit N Portal is also focused on innovation and technology, with tele-remote and autonomous equipment and delivers a wide range of specialised services, the company said.

Quartile One helping Emeco improve equipment fleet reliability

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

In its 2019 financial year update presentation, contractor Emeco Holdings flagged up a partnership with Quartile One that has seen the company improve the component life and reliability of its expanding equipment fleet.

The contractor has grown in recent years, adding, in 2018, rental specialist Matilda Equipment to the portfolio. It also recently bolstered its fleet with “strategic core assets” comprising mainly 240-t haul trucks and Cat D10/D11 dozers.

This has seen the company’s focus on Australia coking coal operations increase to around two-thirds of the overall business, with the remainder coming from Australia thermal coal.

The reliability of its fleet, which it characterises as young compared with the average across the industry, is crucial to its overall success in winning and retaining mining business.

During the update today, Emeco said it maximises component life within its fleet through centralised planning and a reliability engineering ability to rebuild components in house. Much of this is enabled by an asset management solution from Quartile One.

Quartile One, which is expected to be acquired by Aurecon next month after a deal was announced in April, is a key player in the data analytics space, helping companies manage physical and other infrastructure assets to meet “the performance and pricing challenges of the commodity markets”, Aurecon said.

According to Emeco, the Quartile One industry database contains 85,000 years of mobile equipment industry comparisons with assets on 150 sites globally. This enables benchmarking with best practice owners globally to drive improved performance alongside a valuable reference for optimised decision making.

Emeco said Quartile One’s “reliability engineers” monitor the performance of all components on its equipment fleet for signs of distress or abuse, while advanced financial and engineering analytics ensure data-driven decisions. This is backed up by asset telemetry, which provides real-time data on components.

Meanwhile, a central planning function accounts for component change out 12 months in advance, enabling the company to streamline maintenance ahead of time. Artificial intelligence tools are also in the mix, which support inventory optimisation, according to Emeco.

All of this adds up to a reduction in downtime, improvement in availability and reliability, visibility on major expenditure forecasts and plans, security of parts supply & lowest life cycle cost position, according to Emeco.