NRW wins $290m Mt Holland contract

Wesfarmers-backed Covalent Lithium has awarded the engineering contract for its Mt Holland lithium concentrator to NRW Holdings subsidiary Primero Group.

The contract is worth about $290 million, with Primero expected to begin site works in October.

The proposed Mt Holland concentrator and mine – located 105 kilometres south of Southern Cross – will be built to produce 400,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate each year.

That will then feed into a lithium hydroxide conversion refinery, to be built in Kwinana.

NRW, which completed its acquisition of Primero in March, expects the subsidiary will require a peak workforce of 350 personnel.

Primero has already completed work on the Mt Holland project, including a 130km water delivery pipeline and associated pumping stations.

Managing director Cameron Henry said the latest contract demonstrated Primero and Covalent’s solid working relationship in developing the project.

“This project is not only a flagship project for Primero and our parent company NRW Holdings, but also a major project for Western Australia and the further development of the state’s battery minerals supply chain,” he said.

NRW chief executive Jules Pemberton said the company was pleased with the growth of its Primero business.

“The project has created opportunities for the combined businesses and provides a great platform for other clients to understand the depth, capability and capacity of the group as a whole, from early project inception and feasibility through turnkey multi-discipline delivery and further,” he said.

The contract comes one week after Covalent – a joint venture between Wesfarmers and Chilean company SQM – signed a lease for a 40-hectare site in Kwinana’s industrial area to build its lithium refinery.

The facility is one of three lithium refineries under construction or likely in WA and is expected to produce 45,000t of lithium hydroxide (used in electric vehicle batteries) each year.

Shares in NRW were down 0.2 per cent at 3:30pm AEST to trade at $1.81.