Tag Archives: WestStar Industrial

BHP engages WestStar’s Precast Australia for South Flank iron ore project work

WestStar Industrial subsidiaries SIMPEC and Precast Australia have won more contracts in Western Australia, with a notable win at BHP’s South Flank iron ore development in the Pilbara.

The two have been awarded A$3 million ($2.1 million) in contracted work, with engineering contractor business SIMPEC receiving circa-A$2 million in extensions to its current contracts in the state.

SIMPEC didn’t name any specific contracts within its statement, but the company recently won a contract to construct the 25 MW diesel power generation facility at Fortescue Metals Group’s Eliwana iron ore project in WA.

Prefabricated concrete construction business Precast Australia, meanwhile, has been awarded a contract by Georgiou Group to supply wall panels for the construction of a Costco Warehouse in the Perth Airport precinct. It has also been engaged directly by BHP to initially supply and deliver 200 precast concrete elements to South Flank. The company said there was an opportunity for substantial growth in this contract award.

In addition, Precast Australia was awarded contracts by RHG, Zorzi and Shelford, with total contracts awarded being circa-$1 million.

SIMPEC wins more work from MSP Engineering, Iluka Resources

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.”

SIMPEC ready for camp construction and deconstruction at West Angelas

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

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

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.