Tag Archives: Tetra Tech

Tetra Tech to take over environmental consulting company RPS Group

Environmental, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , ,

Tetra Tech Inc looks to have won the battle for environmental and social engagement consulting specialist, RPS Group plc, after the boards of both companies reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition whereby a Tetra Tech subsidiary will acquire RPS.

The £2.22/share ($2.39/share), all-cash acquisition price trumps the £2.06/share price WSP offered back in August and also represents a 109.5% increase on the volume-weighted average price of £1.06/share for the 90-day period ended August 8, 2022.

The combined Tetra Tech and RPS will represent a premier international consulting, engineering and program management firm, and will leave RPS well-positioned to provide a strong platform to drive long-term growth within the broader enlarged group, Tetra Tech said. The acquisition is also expected to be mid- to high-teen percent accretive to Tetra Tech’s adjusted earnings per share after realising the full benefit from an estimated £21 million in cost synergies and integration into Tetra Tech.

On August 8, 2022, the boards of WSP Global, WSP Holdings and RPS announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer pursuant to which WSP Holdings, or another wholly-owned subsidiary of WSP Global, would acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of RPS. However, Tetra Tech’s new proposal has now been deemed superior by the RPS Directors and advisors.

As at the date of this announcement, Tetra Tech has received irrevocable undertakings and letters of intent accounting for approximately 27.53% of RPS’ issued share capital.

Tetra Tech is a global consulting and engineering firm, which provides high-end services for projects worldwide in multiple sectors including mining.

RPS, meanwhile, says it solves problems that matter in a complex, urbanising, resource-scarce world and concentrates its expertise on the parts of project lifecycles that have the biggest impact on project outcomes, with a strong sustainability agenda.

John Douglas, Chief Executive of RPS, said: “Joining Tetra Tech represents a highly attractive combination of two leading companies in the industry for our clients and provides an ideal opportunity for our people to realise RPS’ goals to meaningfully contribute to the world’s most challenging problems in energy transformation and water management around the world. I am very excited about the future of our combined company and the benefits for our people and clients.”

Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech Inc Chairman and CEO, added: “The RPS Group advances our long-term strategy to enhance our position as the premier global high-end consultancy in water, environment, sustainable infrastructure and energy transformation. We welcome the RPS Group’s associates to join us and collectively leverage our long-term client relationships and project experience. As a global consultancy with a commitment to high-end solutions, we can offer our expanded team of associates even greater professional opportunities.”

Seabridge Gold weighs automation and trolley assist haulage for KSM project

Automation, Base metals, Environmental, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Seabridge Gold has completed an updated prefeasibility study for its KSM Project in British Columbia, Canada, that focuses on open-pit mining only, while planning for both autonomous mine operations and trolley assist haulage.

The 2022 PFS, prepared by Tetra Tech, shows a considerably more sustainable and profitable mining operation than its 2016 predecessor, now consisting of an all open-pit mine plan that includes the Mitchell, East Mitchell and Sulphurets deposits only, it said.

The primary reasons for the improvements in the plan arise from the acquisition of the East Mitchell open-pit resource and an expansion to planned mill throughput – to 195,000 t/d, from 130,000 t/d, the company said.

The many design improvements over the 2016 PFS include a smaller environmental footprint, reduced waste rock production, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, a 50% increase in mill throughput and the elimination of capital-intensive block cave mining, it added.

While total capital has been reduced to $9.6 billion (from $10.5 billion) – with increases from inflation and mill expansion being wholly offset by the elimination of block cave mining from the PFS plan – the initial capital cost has increased to $6.4 billion (from $5 billion) due to inflation.

Life of mine production (33 years) at KSM consists of 1.03 Moz of gold, 178 MIb (80,739 t) of copper, 3 Moz of silver and 4.2 MIb of molybdenum.

The open-pit-only mine production plan using ultra class mining starts in the higher grade Mitchell pit, Seabridge Gold says.  Production from the high grade upper East Mitchell zone is introduced in Year 3. Waste mined from the Sulphurets, East Mitchell and Mitchell pit is placed in the Mitchell rock storage facility (RSF) until Mitchell pit is mined out by Year 25. Final waste from East Mitchell is backfilled into the mined-out Mitchell pit from Year 25 onward along with some waste rehandled from the Mitchell RSF.

Autonomous mine operations where applicable and an integrated remote operations centre reduce on-site personnel, the company noted, while adding that electrification of the haul truck fleet with trolley assist would reduce carbon emissions and overall mine energy costs by replacing diesel with low-cost energy from electricity.

Tetra Tech expands water management practice with Piteau Associates buy

Mining mergers and acquisitions, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , ,

Tetra Tech, a provider of high-end consulting and engineering services, has further expanded its sustainable water management practice with the addition of Piteau Associates, based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Established in 1976 by Dr Douglas Piteau, the firm is a global leader in sustainable natural resource analytics including hydrologic numerical modelling and dewatering system design. Its staff pioneered the development of discrete element numerical models to simulate rock mass behaviour for slope design and hydraulic integrity, Tetra Tech said.

“With the majority of its staff having advanced degrees, the Piteau team solves the natural resource industry’s most complex geotechnical and water-related challenges and has been an important contributor to key industry textbooks, scientific publications, and best practice guidelines involving applied rock mechanics, hydrogeology, hydrology and geochemistry,” the company said. “Recognised global experts on the Piteau Associates team serve on numerous technical review boards and audit and assurance teams on projects around the world.”

Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech Chairman and CEO, added: “Tetra Tech has a long history of Leading with Science® through the application of advanced analytics to water management. The addition of Piteau Associates further expands our expertise in the specialised analysis of sustainable water management and geotechnics for our commercial resource management clients.”

Mark Hawley, Piteau Associates Chairman and CEO, said: “We are excited to join the Tetra Tech family, and to add our expertise to Tetra Tech’s comprehensive scope of engineering and consulting services. We share Tetra Tech’s strong commitment to providing high quality, sustainable and practical solutions based on sound engineering, and focus on projects and developing long-term client relationships. By joining Tetra Tech, we can collaborate on highly technical multi-disciplinary projects, further our global growth strategy, and provide new opportunities for our team and a broader scope of services to our clients.”

Piteau Associates is joining Tetra Tech’s Commercial/International Services Group.

Tetra Tech to examine on-site mill options for Granada Gold

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , ,

Granada Gold Mine has retained the services of Tetra Tech to begin a gap analysis to amend the company’s current Certificate of Authorisation for an on-site mill at its namesake project, in Quebec, Canada.

The engagement of Tetra Tech, a leading provider of consulting and engineering services, follows the discovery of at-surface mineralised structures with significant visible gold at Granada during a stage-one surface stripping program, Granada Gold President and CEO, Frank Basa, said.

“As such, the company has decided that the local mills for custom milling would not be able to process this mineralised material without a significant modification of the process flowsheet to recover this amount of visible gold,” he said.

This has led to the company pursuing the option of building an on-site mill at Granada.

The current resource at the company’s Granada gold project in Rouyn-Noranda includes 22.3 Mt of measured and indicated resources grading 1.06 g/t Au for 762,000 oz of gold and 6.9 Mt of inferred resources at 2.04 g/t for 455,000 oz of gold.

The property includes the former Granada gold mine, which produced more than 50,000 oz of gold at 10 g/t in the 1930s before a fire destroyed the surface building, according to the company.

Some 120,000 m of drilling has been completed to date on the property, focused mainly on the extended LONG Bars zone which trends 2 km east-west over a potential 5.5 km mineralised structure. The highly prolific Cadillac Trend, the source of 50 Moz-plus of gold production in the past century, cuts right through the north part of the Granada property on a line running from Val-d’Or to Rouyn-Noranda, the company says.

Granada is in possession of all permits required to commence the initial mining phase known as the “Rolling Start”, which allows it to mine up to 550 t/d, capable of producing up to 675,000 t of ore over a three-year timeframe.

Otso Gold enlists Tetra Tech for new restart plan at Finland gold mine

Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , ,

Otso Gold has appointed Coffey Geotechnics Ltd, a Tetra Tech Company, to complete and publish an updated NI 43-101 feasibility study for the restart of the Otso gold mine, in Finland.

Tetra Tech is running a live model to support and optimise the current drill program at the project that will inform the feasibility study.

“The feasibility study will be particularly focused on the optimised mine plan to underpin the return to production on a long-term sustainable basis,” the company said.

The drill program will also seek to upgrade the resources. Further, pursuant to the requirements of NI 43-101, all areas of the Otso gold mine will be included in the feasibility study, therefore the company will seek to use the opportunity to optimise the process plant further, it said.

“The company notes that its process plant has a 2 Mt nameplate capacity and has previously produced at recoveries above the modelling on which the process plant was designed and built,” Otso said. “It is also noted that the company’s initial decision to proceed to production was made without first establishing mineral reserves supported by a feasibility study.”

Brian Wesson, President and CEO, said: “The appointment of Tetra Tech for the feasibility study is another important milestone in the return to production of the Otso gold mine.

“Management judged that the completion of a feasibility study was necessary notwithstanding the mine having a process plant, infrastructure and licences all in place – to provide further confidence in the company’s restart plan and the economics of a competent sustainable mine plan. The company has been working closely with Tetra Tech to expedite the feasibility study.”

Back in March 2019, Nordic Gold (the previous owners of the mine) terminated its agreement with mining contractor Tallqvist Oy and decided to place the Laiva (now Otso) gold mine on care and maintenance, months after pouring first gold.

SRK, Coffey and Royal IHC to work on Giyani’s K.Hill manganese feasibility study

Energy minerals, Mineral exploration, Mineral project development, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , ,

Giyani Metals has completed the feasibility study tendering process for its K.Hill manganese project, in Botswana, selecting SRK Consulting and a joint bid by Coffey, a Tetra Tech Company, and Royal IHC to conduct the study.

The tendering process began in early November with six service providers invited to bid.

The scope of work in the request for proposal (RFP) was divided into two work packages to run in parallel.

Work Package 1 (WP1) encompasses all the technical mining disciplines but will exclude processing, infrastructure and environmental/social. Work Package 2 (WP2) mainly encompasses the processing, infrastructure, and project execution disciplines.

Bidders were given the option to bid for both work packages, but the RFP stated that work packages may be awarded individually.

SOURCE: Manganese Metal Company, South Africa

SRK, who completed the preliminary economic assessment for K.Hill earlier this year, was awarded WP1 while WP2 was awarded to the joint Coffey and Royal IHC bid. On the latter, the company said: “The joint bid provides Giyani with specialised experience from Tetra Tech in the process of making electrolytic manganese metal (EMM – pictured) in a solvent extraction/electrowinning plant and mining engineering and construction experience from Royal IHC.”

The environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was tendered separately and bids are currently being assessed by the company, Giyani said.

Giyani will now move to the contracting phase which commences with a site visit with SRK, Coffey, and Royal IHC during the week of December 16.

Robin Birchall, CEO of Giyani, said: “Commencing the FS for K.Hill, along with the ESIA which we will kick off shortly thereafter, is a very important step forward, one that will prepare the company for the next and most important phase of its development, becoming one of the leading independent producers of high purity manganese for the battery electric vehicle market.”

Mike Beare, Project Manager for SRK, said: “SRK is very much looking forward to building on the work of the PEA and applying its skills to further development of the K.Hill project. This will assist Giyani with their continued growth into the burgeoning battery metals sector which we see as an area of considerable investment in years to come.”

Jacques du Toit, Project Director for Coffey & Derk Hartman, Director EPC & Project Delivery for IHC Mining, part of the Royal IHC Group, said: “We recognise that Giyani’s K.Hill manganese project offers outstanding potential for investors and look forward to providing our combined services and solutions to Giyani for the development of the K.Hill manganese project.”

The PEA on K.Hill was based on the 1.1 Mt inferred resource and showed a nine-year potential life of mine producing 245,000 t of what the company called “high-purity electrolytic manganese metal” (HPEMM). Pre-production capital was estimated at $108.5 million and the post-tax net present value (10% discount) was estimated at $285 million based on a projected average price of $4,700/t for HPEMM of 99.9% Mn over the life.