Tag Archives: Plutonic

Perenti books exploration, development and production work with Australian miners

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Perenti says it has secured new work and contract extensions with the likes of Regis Resources, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and Catalyst Metal in Australia representing nearly A$150 million ($97 million) of revenue across its 2024 and 2025 financial years.

It has booked a A$70 million, six-month contract for the continuation of underground development and production works at the Regis Resources Garden Well and Rosemont underground gold mines. Barminco and Regis continue to progress collaboratively towards further and material contract extensions at these two mines, it says.

It has also sealed a A$27 million, 24-month contract for exploration surface drilling services at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland, while a A$14 million, 24-month contract has been awarded for underground diamond drilling works at Catalyst Metal’s Plutonic underground gold mine in Western Australia, subject to finalisation of contract terms.

Furthermore, AUMS (through UMA, a joint venture with Rocksure International) received a limited notice to proceed related to the initial underground development works at the Newmont Akyem underground gold mine in Ghana. The finalisation of contractual negotiations continues, however, once finalised it is forecast that the contract could represent circa-A$32 million of revenue over an initial term of 11 months, with a capital structure that is likely to be similar to that adopted for Newmont’s Subika project.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti, said: “The award of these contracts and the limited notice to proceed across both our underground and surface mining businesses demonstrates the diversity of our service offering and the strength of the relationships we share with our clients. Collectively these three contracts and the limited notice to proceed represent nearly A$150 million of revenue across FY2024 and into FY2025 and come after the recent announcement in which Perenti secured circa-A$360 million of revenue at the Sandfire Resources A4 project in Botswana.”

Zenith Energy to power up Plutonic gold mine

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Zenith Energy says it will add a further 6 MW of installed capacity at Billabong Gold’s Plutonic project power station.

The two companies’ agreement will see the remote power generation specialist build, own and operate (BOO) the power station expansion to increase its capacity to 12 MW, while the current power purchase agreement term between the two companies will be extended by 52 months.

Located in the Archaean Plutonic Marymia Greenstone Belt, 800 km northeast of Perth in Western Australia, the Plutonic mine has been powered by Zenith since 2014.

The increased generating capacity will be delivered by the installation of an additional 6 MW of power via Jenbacher 620 Spark Ignition gas generator technology.

Upon installation, which is set to be completed in the June quarter, Zenith’s total BOO capacity will increase from circa-226 MW to more than 232 MW, it said.

Since Superior Gold, the parent company of Billabong Gold, acquired the Plutonic gold mine from Northern Star Resources in September 2016, it has achieved cumulative production of more than 276,000 oz of gold, according to Superior. The mine produced 83,035 oz of gold in 2019.

Back in October, the company delivered a five-year underground mine plan at Plutonic that would see the operation produce at least 100,000 oz/y of gold over this time frame.