Swick, JSW win work

Swick Mining Services has won two new contracts for work with Independence Group, while the local subsidiary of Queensland firm Hughes Drilling has also picked up more work.

In a statement today, Swick said it would deploy four rigs across the Jaguar copper-gold mine near Leonora and the Nova nickel mine in the Fraser Range to conduct underground diamond drilling under an initial one-year agreement.

Independence recently scaled back operations and made nine redundancies at Jaguar.

Swick managing director Kent Swick said the company was proud to be selected the preferred driller for the two sites.

“Swick will deploy its world class mobile drill rigs to these mines, supported by our experienced crew and management,” he said.

“We believe we can add significant value to the operations over the long term.”

The contract win has pushed Swick’s rig utilisation to 76 per cent, being 59 out of 78 rigs in operation, while its order book has grown to $130 million.

Meanwhile, the local subsidiary of Queensland-based Hughes Drilling has announced the award of two contracts for work in WA.

JSW has received a two-year contract extension for drilling services at Ramelius Resources’ Mount Magnet gold operations for an undisclosed sum.

JSW has been working on-site at Mt Magnet since mid-2011.

The Hughes subsidiary was also awarded an 18-month contract to provide blast hole drilling services at South32’s Boddington bauxite mine, also for an undisclosed sum.

Swick and Hughes shares were unchanged at 17.5 cents and 11.5 cents each, respectively, at 12:15pm.