Tag Archives: Sedgman

CIMIC eyes more coal work as Q1 financials hold up

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Australia-based engineering-led group, CIMIC, posted “robust” operating profit margins in its March quarter results, remarking that the mining market is proving resilient throughout the turbulence caused by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revenue came in at A$3.3 billion ($2.1 billion) for the three-month period, slightly down on last year’s A$3.4 billion, while net profit after tax was A$166 million, compared with A$181.1 million in the March quarter of 2019.

Its operating profit margin was 8.4% for the period.

Throughout the quarter, the company said it had witnessed stable investment in capital expenditure to sustain mining operations. Its UGL subsidiary secured contracts to provide maintenance, shutdown and project services for clients in the mining sector, and its Thiess and Sedgman subsidiaries secured framework agreements with Rio Tinto Iron Ore, in Western Australia, and variations to operations contracts in New South Wales, respectively.

The future prospects for the company look good with, as at March 31, around A$90 billion of tenders relevant to CIMIC expected to be bid and/or awarded for the remainder of 2020, and around A$400 billion of projects coming to the market in 2021 and beyond, it said.

Some major projects the company is currently bidding on include the Lake Vermont mining extension contract in Queensland, Australia. CIMIC’s Thiess is currently working on this Jellinbah Group-owned coal asset through a schedule of rates contract that sees it carry out coal mining, clearing and grubbing, topsoil removal, drill and blast, overburden removal and rehabilitation of final landforms. It also provides all mobile plant and equipment and operates and maintains the client’s coal handling and preparation plant at the site, according to Thiess.

Another contract the company is eying up for more work is the Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) mining extension in Indonesia. Again, Thiess has a schedule of rates contract in place at the 11 Mt/y Sangatta coal operation and the company hopes it can continue its relationship with the mine with a 2022 contract extension.

Nevada Copper ships first Pumpkin Hollow concentrate

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , ,

Following the start of production on December 16, Nevada Copper has shipped the first copper concentrate from its Pumpkin Hollow copper mine, in Nevada, USA.

Having reached these milestones, the company is now focused on ramping up the mine, in Yerington, to reach nameplate capacity in the first half of 2020.

The 2017 prefeasibility study plan for the underground mine outlined a 5,000 t/d project able to produce some 50 MIb/y (22,680 t/y) of copper, 8,000 oz of gold and 150,000 oz of silver over a 13.5-year life at all-in sustaining costs of $1.96/Ib of copper. It also laid the foundations for a larger integrated project that includes open-pit development and could increase throughput to 70,000 t/d.

Matt Gili, Chief Executive Officer of Nevada Copper, said: “Our first shipment of copper concentrate has left Pumpkin Hollow, representing another important milestone as we look forward to continuing our ramp-up to full commercial production in 2020.”

Both Cementation USA and Sedgman USA were involved in the Pumpkin Hollow build, with the former carrying out shaft sinking and underground mine development work and the latter completing the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the surface plant and infrastructure.

CIMIC exceeds profit guidance in 2018, positive on 2019 and beyond

Equipment maintenance, Mining finance, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , ,

CIMIC says it is expecting to top its net profit after tax 2018 result this year, supported by, among other things, continued strong performance out of the mining sector.

The engineering company, which has a number of mining-related subsidiaries, recorded net profit after tax of A$781 million ($557 million) in 2018, alongside revenue of A$14.7 billion. The former was up 11% year-on-year and at the top end of guidance of A$720-$780 million, while the latter rose 9% year-on-year. CIMIC said all its operating companies recorded growth during 2018.

And, the good news for CIMIC shareholders is that the company estimates its net profit after tax will increase in 2019, with guidance pitched at A$790-$840 million, subject to market conditions.

CIMIC Group Executive Chairman, Marcelino Fernández Verdes, said: “In 2018, we focused on enhancing the capability of our operating companies to provide integrated solutions, ensuring we deliver enduring value for our clients across the lifecycle of their assets, infrastructure and resources projects.

“This collaborative approach has driven an excellent result for our shareholders, is providing exciting opportunities for our people, and will power the next phase of our transformation through digitalisation and innovation.”

In mining, specifically, the company referenced some notable achievements in its results release. This included significant mining services contracts at the Mt Arthur coal operation in the Hunter Valley, Australia, and at the Encuentro Oxides mine in Chile for Thiess; maintenance and shutdown support services by UGL across BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin; and engineering, procurement and construction of the Pumpkin Hollow copper concentrator in Nevada, US, by Sedgman.

The company also secured a A$150 million contract extension at BHP’s Caval Ridge coal mine (pictured) in Queensland.

CIMIC said: “Looking forward, at least A$130 billion of tenders relevant to CIMIC Group are expected to be bid and/or awarded in 2019, and around A$300 billion of projects are coming to the market in 2020 and beyond, including about $120 billion worth of public-private partnership (PPP) projects.”

Fernández Verdes added: “Our pipeline of work has further increased and we have a positive outlook for 2019 and beyond. This is led by the strong performance of the mining sector, an increasing level of infrastructure opportunities in Australia, and the trends towards more outsourcing of services and for greater investment in PPPs.”

Sedgman and CPB Contractors to prep plant for Pembroke’s Olive Downs coal project

Bulk handling, Coal technology, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

CIMIC Group companies Sedgman and CPB Contractors have been awarded a contract by Pembroke Resources at the Olive Downs coking coal project in central Queensland, Australia.

The contract is for design, procurement, construction and commissioning of the coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), and will generate revenue to CIMIC Group of A$184 million ($130 million), the company said.

CIMIC said: “Mineral processing company Sedgman and construction company CPB Contractors will work together to deliver this end-to-end solution. Design and early procurement work will commence immediately.”

The CHPP developed by Sedgman, CPB and Pembroke will have sufficient capacity to process the first phase of annual production of up to 6 Mt of run of mine coal from Olive Downs, according to Pembroke. Fully developed, the project will have the capacity to produce up to 15 Mt/y of high-quality metallurgical coal.

Sedgman Managing Director Grant Fraser called Olive Downs an “exciting, long-term development in the Queensland Bowen Basin”, while CPB Contractors Managing Director Juan Santamaria said the project would draw on his company’s long experience in resources infrastructure and strong ongoing project involvement in regional Queensland.

Work is expected to be completed in 2020. The project has 813 Mt of resources, including 514 Mt of reserves.

Pybar starts underground mining at Heron’s Woodlawn zinc project

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Pybar Mining Services has started up underground mining at Heron Resources’ Woodlawn zinc project in New South Wales, Australia, ahead of full commissioning by the end of the year.

The company entered into a four-year underground mining contract with Pybar in February and the contractor has now kicked off mining. This includes the ground support of box cut walls and the first portal blast of the decline.

Heron said the overall project, as of the end of August, was 73% complete, with earthworks substantially concluded, equipment purchasing at 98%, concrete almost complete and offsite fabrication 92% signed off. Sedgman is the EPC contractor.

Woodlawn is envisaged as a 1.5 Mt/y operation able to produce 40,000 t/y of zinc, 10,000 t/y of copper and 12,000 t/y of lead at steady-state production over a 9.3-year mine life. This is based on a reserve base of 2.8 Mt at 14% ZnEq from underground and 9.5 Mt at 6% ZnEq from reprocessed tailings.

The operation is set to use an IsaMill™ to treat the zinc-rich reclaimed tailings, as well as polymetallic primary ore in different processing modes. The 3 MW 10,000 IsaMill comes with an IsaCharger™ media delivery system, as well as commissioning services from Glencore Technology.

Heron’s Managing Director Wayne Taylor said: “Exploration over the last four years has defined a very high-grade, high-quality resource and reserve position, and the access which has now commenced will enable us to deliver underground ore into the processing plant in 2019.

“Once underground, our geological team will focus on further expanding the known mineralised positions to build upon the excellent and cost-effective work they have undertaken to date.

“Elsewhere on site, I am pleased to report that good progress continues to be made with all aspects of the build, and that works remain on schedule for the commissioning by the end of the year.”

Golder and Sedgman outline Pumpkin Hollow open-pit potential for Nevada Copper

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The preliminary economic assessment on Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow open-pit project has given the company food for thought, just as it starts construction on the underground mine.
Golder Associates and Sedgman Canada produced the PEA, which showed a 37,000 t/d (short) open-pit mine producing 80,286 t/y of payable copper at a C1 cash cost of $1.67/Ib (net of by-product credits) could be built for $592 million.

This plan is a departure from the 70,000 t/d (short) open-pit project outlined in 2013, which would have required $926 million of upfront capital and produced 85,900 t/y of copper over a 23-year mine life.

The latest PEA envisages an expansion to 70,000 t/d (short) in year eight of the mine, costing an additional $447 million, but would see higher-grade ore mined in the first five years of operation to increase the potential returns and decrease the amount of pre-stripping required.

Matt Gili, President and CEO of Nevada Copper, said: “The phased development approach…aligns with our strategy of pursuing optionality through low-capital intensity and staged production growth to generate shareholder returns. We have used this same margin-over-tonnes philosophy with the Pumpkin Hollow underground mine, which will be in production in 2019, and we are looking forward to the next steps in advancing the open-pit project.”

The Nevada Copper board signed off on the construction of the underground mine late last month.

Pumpkin Hollow Underground is expected to process 5,000 t/d and produce some 50 MIb/y (22,680 t/y) of copper over a 13.5-year life at all-in sustaining costs of $1.96/Ib.

The open-pit project, meanwhile, is envisaged as a conventional truck-and-shovel operation planned to use a combination of hydraulic and electric cable shovels and haul trucks.

The mining fleet includes 240 t class trucks, loaded by a 45 yd3 (34 m3) diesel-hydraulic and electric shovel and 22 yd3 (17 m3) wheel loader. Drill and blast will be undertaken with track mounted drill rigs drilling 10 ¾ inch (273 mm) holes.

The treatment technology proposed for the project is conventional flotation concentration. The processing plant will consist of crushing and grinding circuits, followed by a flotation process to recover and upgrade copper and silver from the feed material.

Crushed material with the approximate particle grind size P80 of 6 inch (152 mm), will be fed to the grinding circuit via SAG mill feed conveyor. Oversized material from the SAG mill trommel screen will be conveyed to the pebble crusher. The pebble crusher will discharge to the SAG mill.

The product from the SAG mill will be fed into the grinding cyclone feed pump-box, from where it will be pumped to the primary cyclopack. The cyclone underflow product will report via chute to the ball mill for further grinding. The cyclone overflow product, with the approximate particle grind size P80 of 150 microns, is the final ground product and will report to the rougher flotation conditioning tank.

Flotation will consist of one rougher and two stages of cleaner flotation, with the single tower/Vertimill being used for the fine grinding of the rougher concentrate.

The copper concentrate will be thickened using a hi-rate thickener and the underflow pumped to the agitated stock tank prior to filtration, and the thickener overflow will be collected in the process water tank.

The tailings will be disposed of by dry stacking of filtered tailings. The tailings will be thickened prior to moving onto the tailings filtration plant.

Cementation, Sedgman to start work on Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow project

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Nevada Copper’s board has made the decision to proceed to full construction at the Pumpkin Hollow project in Nevada, US, paving the way for its contractors to start working on the new underground mine.

The construction sign off follows a recently completed C$108.5 million ($84 million) public offering of Nevada Copper common shares and pre-construction activities that have been ongoing since May 2018.

Nevada Copper said the transition from pre-construction works to full-scale construction was expected to commence shortly. The 2017 prefeasibility study plan outlined a 5,000 t/d underground project able to produce some 50 MIb/y (22,680 t/y) of copper over a 13.5-year life at all-in sustaining costs of $1.96/Ib, while also laying the foundations for a larger integrated project that includes openpit development and could increase throughput to 70,000 t/d.

In connection with the construction decision, Nevada Copper has awarded a mining contract for shaft sinking and underground mine development work at Pumpkin Hollow to Cementation USA. The contractor has previously worked on the project, having sunk the existing production shaft (down to 579 m) and developed hoist infrastructure in advance of commencement of underground construction activities.

Sedgman USA, a member of the CIMIC Group, has received the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the surface plant and infrastructure at Pumpkin Hollow. The fixed price $118 million contract follows several months of a detailed engineering and design programme conducted by Sedgman incorporating a number of significant improvements to the prefeasibility study for the $197 million underground project.

These improvements are all part of Nevada Copper’s latest review and detailed design for the underground project, which, it says, has led to a number of project optimisations and operational de-risking measures being incorporated in the mine design.

This includes a centralised mine design, providing greater operational efficiency for the underground mine, and construction of a ventilation shaft via blind sink, which provides a lower-risk method to support schedule compliance and further enhances optionality for future operations, the company said.

“Further project enhancements continue to be reviewed by Nevada Copper, including debottlenecking to subsequently increase production throughput and the potential for decline access to the E2 orebody.”

Nevada Copper anticipates first concentrate production from Pumpkin Hollow in the December quarter of 2019.

Sedgman secures $310 million contracts for Boikarabelo coal mine works

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Resource Generation Ltd subsidiary Ledjadja Coal has signed three separate EPC agreements with CIMIC Group subsidiary Sedgman that will see the contractor carry out major work at the Boikarabelo coal mine in Limpopo Province, South Africa.

The three contracts cover design, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance of the operation’s coal handling preparation plant (CHPP), plus the ancillary works relating to mine infrastructure.

The CHPP will be designed to handle 15 million tonnes of raw coal per year and, under the provisions of the operations and maintenance contract, Sedgman will operate and maintain the plant for four years after commissioning, “subject to strict performance criteria”, ResGen said.

The ancillary works is likely to involve construction of infrastructure associated with the CHPP, plus additional buildings, piping, electrical works, water and drainage during mine development.

Some 15 Mt of run of mine coal will be mined every year at Boikarabelo, but the company expects to produce 3.6 Mt/y of export product (25.7 MJ per kg on an air dried basis) and 2.4 Mt/y of domestic product (19.5 MJ/kg on an air dried basis).

Boikarabelo, in the Waterberg region of Limpopo, has 995 Mt of JORC resources and 267 Mt of JORC reserves. The mine requires a rail link to allow for exports, which is expected to cost R650 million ($49 million) in upfront capital, plus another R300 million during its ramp-up.

The value of the engineering design, construction and commissioning of the CHPP plant and the construction of the ancillary works infrastructure contracts is $210 million, while the operations and maintenance contract is valued at $100 million.

Grant Fraser, Sedgman Managing Director, said: “We are pleased to be able to deliver our whole-of-life approach to this important project – building the processing plant and providing ongoing operational involvement for Resource Generation, and its South African subsidiary Ledjadja Coal.

Papi Molotsane, Acting CEO of Ledjadja Coal, said Sedgman’s successful delivery of coal projects in southern Africa and the ability to wrap the contracts into lump-sum solutions were key to the contractor winning the work.

Work is expected to commence once the Boikarabelo project funding has been finalised, with debt providers currently in the final process of credit approvals, CIMIC said.