Privately owned contracting group Tenix has made a big push into the Western Australian resources sector, winning a $174 million contract on Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine development.
Privately owned contracting group Tenix has made a big push into the Western Australian resources sector, winning a $174 million contract on Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine development.
Tenix operates nationally and has traditionally been associated with infrastructure projects, particularly for the water and power sectors, and defence contracts, which it sold out of in 2008.
It has made a strategic push into the WA resources sector under the guidance of executive general manager Stuart Crofts, who joined the group in November last year.
Mr Crofts’ previous roles included being executive general manager of United Group Resources and managing director of Brierty.
The major prong of Tenix’s WA push was the acquisition last year of SDR, a privately owned engineering and construction contractor with a large manufacturing facility in Kwinana.
The Argyle contract involves the installation of crushers, conveyors and dewatering facilities 450 metres underground.
“We are excited to be working with Rio Tinto to complete this major piece of work as we expand Tenix’ capabilities in Western Australia,” Mr Crofts said.
He said the contract would utilise the skills and experience of SDR backed by the scale and size of Tenix.
The work includes fabrication and installation of two underground crushers and 1.2 kilometres of conveyors, along with dewatering pump stations and associated equipment.
Mr Crofts said the majority of the fabrication would occur at Tenix SDR’s 25,000 square metre manufacturing facility in Kwinana, and would utilise local labour.
It’s the second piece of good news recently for the steel industry on the Kwinana strip, after Ausgroup subsidiary AGC Industries last month won a $50 million fabrication contract for the Gorgon gas project.
Most of the workshops on the Kwinana strip have been operating below capacity this year, as they have battled to compete with larger fabrication yards in Asia.
Rio Tinto is spending a total of $1.6 billion on the Argyle project.
Originally approved in 2005, the project was slowed in 2009 after the onset of the global financial crisis.
In September last year, Rio approved the remaining $803 million expenditure to complete the underground development, which is expected to sustain production of 20 million carats a year and extend the mine life to at least 2019.
Mr Crofts said SDR historically was a structural, mechanical and piping contractor, with a focus on tank manufacture.
It has previously won contracts for Worsley Alumina, BHP Billiton and Coogee Chemicals, among others.
Part of Mr Crofts’ role is to bolster the Tenix SDR business by adding processes, systems and management, and building its capability to take on large-scale contracts.
