Tag Archives: SIMPEC

SIMPEC starts FY2020 with more WA contract extensions

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SIMPEC has continued to add to its structural, mechanical and piping (SMP), and electrical and instrumentation (E&I) work, in Western Australia, bolting on another A$5 million ($3.49 million) to its current list of contracts.

Having been awarded contracts totalling A$50 million in its 2019 financial year to end-June, the WestStar subsidiary has started its 2020 financial year strongly.

Although the company didn’t mention the specific contracts it had won extensions on, SIMPEC has previously been awarded work involving pyromet piping installation at the lithium hydroxide process plant (LHPP1) at Tianqi Lithium’s Kwinana project (pictured), in addition to installing electrical and communications systems at the Rio Tinto’s West Angelas iron ore mine construction camp.

The latest news come less than two weeks since SIMPEC registered A$2.5 million of extensions to previous contracts.

SIMPEC Managing Director, Mark Dimasi, said: “Having delivered a strong pipeline of contract awards over the past year, SIMPEC continues to consolidate its position and build its credentials on major projects.”

The company added: “SIMPEC continues to tender strongly for new work and expects outcomes from these tendering activities in due course.”

SIMPEC banks more Western Australia work as order book continues to grow

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WestStar Industrial’s engineering contractor business, SIMPEC, has been awarded an additional A$2.5 million ($1.7 million) in scope extensions to its current contracts in Western Australia, bringing its total year-to-date order book to over A$50 million.

The SIMPEC team has grown substantially over the past 6 months and has deployed over 150 personnel and contractors now working across all of SIMPEC’s current contracts. This includes work for MSP Engineering (the Tianqi Lithium Kwinana processing plant) and Iluka Resources (for the Cataby mineral sands project), in addition to a contract with Fortescue Metals Group for its new Eliwana iron ore project.

SIMPEC Managing Director, Mark Dimasi, said: “SIMPEC is performing exceptionally well on site and the contract extensions are a good indication of this.”

With this award, the WestStar group has posted a year-to-date order total in excess of A$50 million.

The company said: “With major contract works underway or soon to commence, the company expects a strong start to the new financial year. SIMPEC continues to tender strongly for new work and expects outcomes from these tendering activities in due course.”

SIMPEC wins more work from MSP Engineering, Iluka Resources

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SIMPEC says it has been awarded more than A$5 million ($3.46 million) in scope extensions to its current contracts in Western Australia.

WestStar Industrial’s engineering contractor business said the bulk of this work is either underway or will commence imminently and was built on the original awards from MSP Engineering (for the Tianqi Lithium Kwinana processing plant, pictured) and Iluka Resources (for the Cataby mineral sands project).

This news comes hot on the heels of SIMPEC announcing major contract awards, the most recent being the A$10 million win from ATCO to supply and install the electrical, communications and dry fire systems for an 800-room mine camp at Fortescue Metals Group’s Eliwana iron ore mine site in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

SIMPEC said its team has grown substantially over the past six months with nearly 150 personnel and contractors now working across all of its current contracts.

SIMPEC Managing Director, Mark Dimasi, said: “These scope extensions are a direct result of our strong performance on site. With safety at the forefront of everything we do, SIMPEC is performing very well across all projects and working very closely with our clients.”

BGC Contracting, SIMPEC awarded contracts for FMG’s Eliwana iron ore project

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Australia mining and construction firm, BGC Contracting has been awarded a A$24 million ($16.9 million) contract to deliver bulk earthworks and roads at Fortescue Metals Group’s A$1.7 billion Eliwana iron ore project, 90 km west-northwest of Tom Price, in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The six-month project is underway and BGC Contracting will deliver infrastructure including the construction of the permanent accommodation village earthworks and access road, a RFDS airstrip and a 16 km-long construction access road, the company said. BGC is carrying out all earthworks and civil works necessary to develop initial road facilities, which will also facilitate connection to near-future construction packages to rail and other infrastructure.

The Eliwana project will involve the building of 143 km of rail, a new 30 Mt/y dry ore processing facility and infrastructure. Production is expected to commence in December 2020 with a life of mine strip ratio of 1.1. The project underpins the introduction of a 60% Fe grade product (Fortescue Premium) in the second half of the company’s 2019 financial year.

BGC Contracting CEO, Greg Heylen, said the Eliwana contract is a major achievement for the company’s diversification strategy and allows BGC to extend its expertise in the mining construction sector.

“When you partner with BGC Contracting, you don’t just partner with one of Australia’s largest contractors; you partner up with every person that works on the job. You get their collective experience, their knowledge, and their work ethic. You get 110%,” he said.

“There has been a real increase in resource sector and construction opportunities, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland, and we look forward to this next phase in our growth strategy.”

The day after BGC announced this contract award, WestStar business SIMPEC said it had been awarded a circa A$10 million contract by ATCO Structures and Logistics to design, supply, construct, test and commission the electrical, communications and dry fire systems for an 800-room mine camp at Eliwana.

The contract, SIMPEC’s largest single contract award to date, was scheduled to commence in mid-2019 and was expected to take nine months to complete.

SIMPEC Managing Director, Mark Dimasi, said: “To see the fruits of the concerted effort during the Fortescue Eliwana tender phase is very rewarding for the team. This Tier One project award is a significant achievement for SIMPEC allowing the company to construct alongside some of Australia’s biggest construction companies.”

SIMPEC wins survey contract for Rio Tinto at Cape Lambert

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WestStar Industrial’s SIMPEC is to carry out work for Rio Tinto’s iron ore division at the Cape Lambert port facility in Western Australia as part of a A$4.5 million ($3.2 million) contract.

Under the contract, the engineering firm will design and construct a remote draft survey system at the port aimed at increasing ship turnaround and safety.

This win comes just a week after SIMPEC was awarded its largest ever contract to date at Tianqi Lithium’s Kwinana LHPP1 process plant, also in Western Australia.

Cape Lambert is around 40 km north of Karratha, in northwest Western Australia. Combined, the port’s two terminals are capable of shipping more than 185 Mt/y of iron ore, SIMPEC says.

SIMPEC Managing Director Mark Dimasi said the contract award was testament to the SIMPEC team’s hard work over the past six months during the project’s tender phase.

With the Rio contract in the bag, SIMPEC has built an order book of close to A$30 million and, over the past year,  has tendered for more than A$150 million of work.

SIMPEC to work on Tianqi Lithium’s Kwinana processing plant

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WestStar’s SIMPEC business has been awarded an A$8 million ($5.8 million) contract by MSP Engineering at the Tianqi Lithium Kwinana processing plant in Western Australia.

The award, the company’s largest contract to date, follows on from SIMPEC’s work for MSP at the Talison lithium CGP2 project in Greenbushes, WA, a mine owned 51:49 by Tianqi and Albemarle.

The work on the lithium hydroxide process plant (LHPP1) at Kwinana involves pyromet piping installation.

MSP is the head contractor for the design and construction of the Kwinana LHPP1 project, which is being designed to produce lithium hydroxide monohydrate from the processing of spodumene ore from the Talison Greenbushes operation. The plant will have a total output of 48,000 t/y upon completion, SIMPEC says.

With this award, the WestStar group has built an order book of some A$25 million, the company said.

SIMPEC ready for camp construction and deconstruction at West Angelas

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WestStar Industrial’s engineering contractor business, SIMPEC, has been awarded a key contract by ATCO Structures and Logistics in the construction and deconstruction of a 600-room camp at Rio Tinto’s West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The A$4 million ($2.96 million) contract award work is due to commence early in 2019.

SIMPEC’s electrical and communications scope of work is to design, supply, construct, test, commission and deconstruct the electrical and communications systems of the construction camp. The camp will be delivered over a three-to-four-month period and is to be used in the major development project at West Angelas to build deposits C and D.

Following completion of mine development, SIMPEC will return to site and deconstruct the camp’s electrical and communications systems.

SIMPEC said the contract award at West Angelas builds on the portfolio of camp work packages successfully undertaken by SIMPEC, specifically the camp works completed at Iluka Resources’ Cataby iron sands project, 150 km north of Perth, Western Australia.

SIMPEC Managing Director Mark Dimasi said: “This is a tribute to our team resulting from our efforts at the Cataby project. What a commendable achievement to secure a project with ATCO Structures and Logistics for the Rio Tinto West Angelas mine site, further enhancing our exposure to camp construction works.”

The investment at West Angelas’ C and D deposits is part of a $1.55 billion plan to sustain production capacity at part of the Robe River joint venture (owned 53% by Rio, 33% by Mitsui and 14% by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp).

The joint venture partners will invest $579 million in developing deposits C and D, with first ore expected in 2021.

SIMPEC books business at Iluka’s Cataby mineral sands project in Western Australia

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SIMPEC is continuing to win business in the Western Australia mining sector, this time being awarded a contract to install a flocculant treatment plant for Iluka Resources’ new mineral sands project in Cataby.

The A$1.7 million ($1.2 million) contract award will see SIMPEC, a subsidiary of WestStar Industrial, start work on the plant immediately. It is the company’s second award at Cataby, having successfully completed a key mechanical, electrical and communications contract in the construction of two separate accommodation facilities for use by Iluka and Tronox, respectively.

The plant package is a fabrication and construction project consisting of four tanks including structural, mechanical and piping works. The project will be delivered over a three-month period and forms part of a “complex mineral and chemical processing facility”, according to SIMPEC.

At Cataby, the heavy mineral concentrate produced at the site will be processed into final products at Iluka’s Narngulu mineral separation plant.

The A$250-275 million Cataby project was approved in December 2017 with first production expected in the June quarter of 2019. It is expected to produce an average of 200,000 t/y of synthetic rutile, 50,000 t/y of zircon and 30,000 t/y of rutile over an 8.5-year mine life.

SIMPEC said the Cataby award builds on its portfolio of tank work packages carried out at the Talison lithium mine in Greenbushes, Western Australia.

With this award, SIMPEC has built an order book of A$9.5 million, with more than A$150 million of work tendered over the past year, it said.

SIMPEC books more business on Talison lithium mine expansion project

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SIMPEC has been rewarded for its work on the Talison lithium mine in Greenbushes, Western Australia, with a contract extension from head design and construction contractor MSP Engineering.

The contract scope extensions and purchase orders, which total some A$1.8 million ($1.3 million), will see SIMPEC supply and install site-wide concrete footings (including earth works), the final tails pump and piping system, and chute fabrication works for the Chemical Grade Plant 2 (CGP2) project.

SIMPEC was previously awarded a A$2.7 million contract by MSP Engineering to design, supply and construct process water tanks at the CGP2 project, which will more than the double capacity of the Talison lithium mine to 1.34 Mt/y of concentrate. The project, owned by Talison through a 50:50 joint venture between Albemarle and Tianqi Lithium, is due for commissioning in the June quarter of 2019.

Mark Dimasi, SIMPEC Managing Director, said: “We are pleased to have gained extra work on this high-profile project that is helping underpin expansion of the lithium processing industry in Western Australia.”

With the expanded scopes of each of SIMPEC’s current projects with MSP Engineering, the WestStar Industrial subsidiary has added A$7.8 million of work to its order book. This includes work on BHP’s South Flank iron ore project.