Tag Archives: Vysarn

Iluka Cataby contract pushes Pentium Hydro drilling capacity over the line

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Vysarn Limited subsidiary, Pentium Hydro, is to carry out drilling of dewatering wells at Iluka’s Cataby mine site in Western Australia following the award of a contract with Iluka Resources.

The Goods and Services contract is a variation to the original award of drilling services by Iluka back in January 2020.

The contract has an estimated value of A$1.74 million ($1.31 million) and, based on the current scope, is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Pentium plans to mobilise to site next month.

Vysarn Managing Director, James Clement, said: “Of note, this work now provides a contract pipeline exceeding the capacity of Pentium’s current fleet of 12 rigs in the first half of the 2022 financial year. Management intend to lease or enter into hire purchase arrangements to execute the work in hand with additional drill rigs.”

Fortescue rewards Monadelphous and Pentium Hydro with more Pilbara work

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Fortescue Metals Group has handed out new work to Monadelphous Group and Pentium Hydro at its iron ore operations in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

Engineering company Monadelphous has secured a new five-year crane services contract, valued at around A$150 million ($117 million), with the miner.

The contract is for the provision of crane services supporting general repairs, maintenance and shutdown activities at Fortescue’s Solomon (pictured) and Eliwana operations.

Monadelphous has provided crane services to Fortescue’s Solomon operations since 2017 and, last year, expanded those services to Fortescue’s Eliwana operations.

Vysarn Ltd subsidiary Pentium Hydro, meanwhile, advises that it has amended, via a Deed of Amendment, the agreement for hydrogeological borefield drilling and construction services with Fortescue’s wholly owned Chichester Metals Pty Ltd and FMG Solomon Pty Ltd subsidiaries, previously announced in November 2019.

This amendment will see the term of its contract increased to 36 months, with the option of a two-year extension exercisable by Fortescue. The scope of work has also been amended to include the provision of dual tube flooded reverse drilling services, with an additional drill rig expected to be deployed by April.

At the same time, the companies have amended the revenue model for the contract.

Revenue from works in the original contract was based on key performance indicators for a number of production and monitoring bores and was subject to metres drilled and drill rates. Revenue from works will now be based on a combination of day rates and a schedule of hourly rates, Vysarn said.

Roy Hill contracts Pentium Hydro for more bores at iron ore mine site

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Pentium Hydro’s specialised drill rigs will extend their stay at Roy Hill’s iron ore mine in the Pilbara of Western Australia after the Vysarn Ltd subsidiary received a notice of contract award for hydrogeological drilling from the miner.

The new contract, which follows on from a general works contract Roy Hill and Pentium signed back in 2019, comes with an estimated revenue based on the initial scope of work of around A$12 million ($9 million).

It also stipulates for the issue of individual work requests for the supply of one or more drill rigs and comes with a three-year and five-month contract term starting from January 1, 2021, with a one-year extension option by Roy Hill.

The scope of work as defined under the contract is to provide the drilling and installation of production, injection and monitoring bores to support mining and exploration activities across Roy Hill mine site locations within the Pilbara, Pentium said, with revenue from these works based on a schedule of rates.

Pentium currently has one dual rotary drill rig and associated ancillary equipment on a Roy Hill mine site working under the terms of the previous contract announced on November 1, 2019. This drill rig and/or similar drill rigs in the Pentium fleet will start the execution of the scope of work defined within the new contract from January 1, 2021.

Trio of Pentium Hydro rigs to run at Roy Hill Iron Ore

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Roy Hill Iron Ore is to add a third drill rig at its operations in Western Australia after Vysarn subsidiary Pentium Hydro confirmed receipt of an additional purchase order from the company.

The mobilisation of a third rig is part of the general works contract Roy Hill and Pentium Hydro signed back in 2019. This was for dual rotary and reverse circulation water bore drilling services.

Under this contract, Roy Hill may at any time over an initial period of two years (which can be extended by Roy Hill for a further year), submit a work request to Pentium to perform works such as dual rotary and RC water bore drilling services, minor civil earthworks and/or rotary air and conventional drilling services, at locations instructed by Roy Hill.

The third rig being mobilised to Roy Hill, expected to be in place by the end of April, is the eighth rig Pentium Hydro has deployed from its fleet.

Based on the current scope the first phase of the purchase order is expected to be complete within four to five months of mobilisation, Pentium Hydro said.

Pentium Hydro to help with dewatering at Iluka’s Cataby mineral sands op

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Pentium Hydro has continued to book more work from the mining sector with Iluka Resources becoming the latest company to engage it for specialised dewatering drilling.

The Vysarn subsidiary’s Goods and Services contract with Iluka at the Cataby mineral sands mine, in Western Australia, has an estimated value of A$1.875 million ($1.3 million) and, based on the current scope, is expected to be complete before the end of June 2020.

Pentium plans to mobilise to site in early February, with the company carrying out the drilling of dewatering and injection wells at the Southern Area Development project at Cataby.

Managing Director of Pentium, Sheldon Burt, said: “The mobilisation of this rig will be the seventh rig of the fleet committed to a drilling program since acquiring the assets and the company’s relisting on ASX in September 2019.”

Pentium’s list of recent project awards includes Fortescue Metals Group at Cloudbreak, Roy Hill at its Western Australia iron ore mine and the AngloGold Ashanti- and Independence Group-owned Tropicana gold mine.

Burt added: “The award of this work further strengthens the company’s strategy to become the premium dewatering service provider in Western Australia, specifically to Tier One mining clients.”

FMG enlists Pentium Hydro for more boring at Pilbara iron ore ops

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Vysarn’s wholly owned subsidiary, Pentium Hydro, has won further work with Fortescue Metals Group following an initial order for the iron ore miner’s Chichester operations in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The two companies have entered into an agreement for hydrogeological borefield drilling and construction services for both the Chichester and Solomon operations.

The contract will see Pentium pocket estimated revenue, based on the initial scope of work, of A$13.3 million ($9 million) for a two-year fixed scope contract with a one-year extension option.

The scope of work as defined under the contract is to provide the drilling and installation of production, injection and monitoring bores to support mining and exploration activities across multiple locations, within the Pilbara region. As defined in the contract these sites are inclusive of Cloudbreak, Christmas Creek, Solomon and Eliwana.

Pentium completed the mobilisation of the first Dual Rotary (DR) drill rig and associated auxiliary plant at Chichester in October 2019 under a previously agreed initial purchase order from FMG.

Pentium anticipates the mobilisation of the second DR rig under the new contract during the month of January.

It said: “Revenue from these works is based on contract key performance indicators for the number of production and monitoring bores and is also subject to metres drilled and drill rates.”

In addition to this work with FMG, Pentium Hydro also has rigs and equipment out at BHP’s Olympic Dam mine, Roy Hill’s iron ore operation and AngloGold Ashanti/Independence Group’s Tropicana gold mine.

Pentium Hydro and Roy Hill Iron Ore sign drilling contract

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Vysarn’s wholly-owned subsidiary Pentium Hydro says it has entered into a general works contract for dual rotary and reverse circulation water bore drilling services with Roy Hill Iron Ore in Western Australia.

Under this contract, Roy Hill may at any time over an initial period of two years (which can be extended by Roy Hill for a further year), submit a work request to Pentium to perform works such as dual rotary and RC water bore drilling services, minor civil earthworks and/or rotary air and conventional drilling services, at locations as instructed by Roy Hill.

Pentium has already received and accepted the first work request from Roy Hill for dual rotary drilling and construction dewatering production bores with depths of up to 100 m at the miner’s iron ore operation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, with the estimated value of this work request being some A$2 million ($1.4 million).

Dependant on the timing of receipt of the purchase order and, subject to mobilisation of the rig prior to Christmas, it is expected this work request package based on the current scope would be complete within four to five months.

Pentium Managing Director, Sheldon Burt, said: “Pentium Hydro is delighted with the award of a contract with a client of Roy Hill Iron Ore’s standing. We are committed to building strong relationships and the development of these relationships is a core component of Pentium’s long-term strategy to be a leading hydrogeological water well service provider in Australia.”

Pentium Hydro wins drilling and waterwell construction contract at Tropicana gold mine

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Vysarn’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Pentium Hydro, has confirmed another major mining contract, this time with the AngloGold Ashanti and Independence Group joint venture Tropicana gold mine in Western Australia.

Pentium, which was only acquired from Ausdrill last month, is to provide dual rotary drilling and waterwell construction services at the mine.

Earlier this month, Pentium announced a purchase order worth up to A$800,000 ($549,866) with Fortescue Metals Group at the Cloudbreak iron ore operation.

Under the contract, Pentium will drill and construct de-watering at various locations at the Tropicana mine site including the bore fields, tailings storage facility and open pit areas.

Pentium has commenced procurement of the long lead time materials with mobilisation of the drill rig and auxiliary plant to be completed by early October, Vysarn said. The scope of work is expected to commence shortly thereafter and be complete by mid December 2019.

Pentium Managing Director, Sheldon Burt, said: “This is the fourth rig mobilised by the company in less than a month since acquiring the hydrogeological drilling assets from Ausdrill and confirms the board’s confidence in the underlying demand for the company’s assets and services. We are delighted to be working for a company of AngloGold Ashanti’s standing.”

Tropicana is owned 70% by AngloGold (manager) and 30% by Independence Group. The open-pit operation poured first gold in September 2013.

Vysarn’s new waterwell drilling business wins FMG Cloudbreak work

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Pentium Hydro is in the process of mobilising a drill rig and auxiliary plant to Fortescue Metals Group’s Chichester iron ore operations, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, as part of a purchase order that could see the Vysarn subsidiary pocket A$800,000 ($549,866).

Following the purchase order, Pentium has already started transporting the equipment to Newman, Western Australia, for final inspection. Following signoff of the equipment, it will then head to Cloudbreak with Pentium expecting to commence drilling, subject to a formal agreement being signed, by the end of September.

In addition to this latest contract win at Cloudbreak, part of the Chichester Hub operations which has an annual production capacity of 100 Mt/y, Pentium says the first of two scheduled drill rigs has arrived on site at BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia (pictured).

This delivery is part of a dry hire agreement signed between Pentium and Easternwell WA, which was previously announced on August 16. The second rig destined for Olympic Dam has been despatched from the company’s yard in Canning Vale, with the company expecting these units to begin operating and produce income during this month. The hire rates for this equipment, while on site, are (in aggregate) A$4,500/shift, with each rig able to operate for a maximum of two shifts per day.

This agreement provided for the equipment to be hired on site for a period of at least three months and no more than six months (unless the scope is reduced by BHP).

As Pentium Managing Director, Sheldon Burt, implied, this latest business is significant considering Vysarn only completed the acquisition of Pentium from Ausdrill at the end of last month.

“We are pleased with the quality of the assets purchased and are confident of our ability to become a major provider of waterwell drilling services to the resource, agriculture and infrastructure industries,” he said.