Business at GRD Minproc is looking unlikely to ever be a case of steady as she goes.
Barely into the detailed engineering phase of its initial venture into waste treatment, the local processing technology, project development and advisory company is considering further diversification, possibly into the oil and gas sector.
The Sydney waste treatment opportunity has come via fellow GRD NL subsidiary Global Renewables, and the potential new foray could come from links with GRD Minproc’s chairman, Richard Court.
The company’s traditional minerals processing and project focus is in no danger of dilution, two examples being the company’s joint venture construction contract for Newcrest’s Telfer project’s copper-gold treatment plant, and an engineering services contract with mineral sands heavyweight Iluka Resources.
GRD Minproc has also just opened a new office in Johannesburg, to support strong growth in minerals project work there, and has an office in Chile.
However, the company is entertaining further diversity within a new partnership, and is talking with two potential associates.
Geographic and sectorial diversification was the key to long-term sustainability, GRD Minproc managing director and chief executive officer Dario Amara said.
The Global Renewables partnership would likely mean GRD Minproc could deliver the waste treatment technology "to the world".
But GRD Minproc’s new partnership was likely to come from overseas, and an entry into the oil and gas sector was possible, he said.
Mr Court, company chairman since last year, is a former Premier of Western Australia, who strongly promoted the State’s resources and petroleum industries overseas.
He is credited with forging the links that produced long-term LNG supply contracts to Korea and China.
Mr Court would only say the oil and gas sector was one where GRD Minproc "would look at opportunities", and that the company’s traditional strengths could also be adapted to other business opportunities.
"We have an open mind on diversification – hence our pioneering work on waste management to largely replace traditional landfill," he said.
However, when asked if a move into the oil and gas sector would provide another link to Global Carbon, Mr Court said the GRD group’s environmental priorities had been waste management, then carbon, and could next be water.
"The next logical area is water," he confirmed.
"We should have an announcement by the end of the year," Mr Amara said.
The links within the GRD group are likely to continue to provide further growth for GRD Minproc, but the new Minproc partnership could also prove of benefit to its fellow GRD subsidiaries.
One of these is Global Carbon, of which GRD and GRD Minproc director, and GRD Minproc company secretary, Andrew Bantock is the chief executive officer.
Global Carbon is a carbon credit trader, hoping to also become involved in green power generation.
The company, which has carbon credit transaction agreements with Global Renewables’ Sydney waste treatment operation and BP, may also be able to trade carbon credits with Minproc’s potential partner.
A new partnership announcement would position GRD Minproc some way from where it was two years ago.
In the past two years, the company had put in a concerted effort to revitalise its focus, Mr Amara confirmed.
The company has made six senior appointments since February, following the initial push to extend its engineering skills base across a range of industries.
Not only "aligning itself with the business needs of companies", GRD Minproc has actively sought to identify with the humanitarian and social aspects of the communities in which it operated.
Formerly CEO of John Holland Asia, Mr Amara has been keen to dispel the myth that engineers are just "techies".
A supporter of the arts, and a board member of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Mr Amara has forged links with indigenous artists, and promoted the idea that the well-being of the cultural sector manifests itself in healthy regional and urban communities.
Sporting and training links are also considered vital.
Last year the company initiated an annual $40,000 scholarship program, supporting four local final year engineering students, and offering employment on graduation.
The company also sponsors the Cottesloe Rugby Union Football Club, a particular pleasure in "this exciting and memorable year of the Rugby World Cup", Mr Amara said.
Earlier this month, GRD chairman Brett Fogarty, whose family company Quininup Holdings is GRD’s top share-holder, increased his GRD holding by 100,000 shares in on-market trading through another of his companies, Churchill Resources.
