Primero wins $135m Strandline contract

Strandline Resources has contracted Primero Group, now a wholly owned subsidiary of NRW Holdings, to build processing facilities for the $260 million Coburn mineral sands project in Western Australia.

Primero, under a $135 million engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract, will commission Coburn’s processing facilities including its wet concentration and mineral separation plants.

Strandline said Primero would complete the work alongside Downer EDI subsidiary Mineral Technologies under a subcontract arrangement.

Primero, acquired earlier this year for about $100 million, will complete work under the contract in late 2022.

The subsidiary was named as preferred contractor for the works in September last year.

Fellow local contractor Macmahon Holdings has been named as preferred mining contractor for Coburn, where production is scheduled to begin in the second half of calendar 2022.

The mine is expected to produce zircon, zircon concentrate, chloride ilmenite, and rutile throughout a 22.5-year operating life, according to a definitive feasibility study released mid-last year.

Shares in NRW closed up 2.3 per cent to trade at $2 while Strandline shares closed at 20 cents.