

Viento Group's new contracting business, established with a group of former NRW Holdings executives, has won its first major contract at Fortescue Metals Group’s Solomon project.
The construction of the tailings storage facility is the first significant contract awarded to Viento Contracting Services since its inception in July last year.
The $15.4 million project, a joint venture with Eastern Guruma and Wirul-murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, will commence this month and is scheduled to be completed by September this year.
Managing director of Viento Contracting Services, Patrick Pearcey, said that, “this is a great boost for Viento and VCS as we look to grow our civil contracting business in the mining industry”.
Mr Pearcy also said the company was excited to work on the project and that it looks forward to a long rewarding partnership with Fortescue.
Viento Contracting Services, a 70 per cent owned subsidiary of the Viento Group, was formed last year to, “provide efficient, effective construction services to the civil industry.”
It is led by managing director Patrick Pearcey, operations director Mark Silverthrone and project manager Robbie Stewart, with all three having experience in Western Australia’s mining sector.
All three have all been involved in Fortesuce’s Solomon project before, managing the construction of rail lines, site works and roads when they were part of mining and civil contractor NRW.
Viento Contracting Services said it had been a 12 month investment in personnel and resources to get to this point and that the group had a high level of tenders looking forward to 2014.
Fortescue’s $US3.2 billion Solomon mining project reached a milestone recently with the opening of the Firetail mine, which will produce 20 million tonnes per annum of the project’s expected 60 million tonnes per annum output.