Australasian Mining Review

Australasian Mining Review Spring 2011

Australasian Mining Review

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322 Barminco In Australia, the company’s most recent contract win of a fi ve year $A500 million deal with AngloGold Ashanti to deliver underground mining services at Sunrise Dam, is the second largest underground mining contract to be awarded in Australia and the largest the company has won to date. for services at its Mount Gordon operation and the announcement in April this year of three new blue-chip contracts in West Africa through AUMS. T The new AUMS contracts include a three year $100M Yalea underground mine decline and lateral development project at Randgold Resources 11M oz Loulo Gold Mine in the south-west of Mali, a $75M three year Paboase development and mining contract at Kinross’ 3M oz Chirano Gold mine in Ghana, and the $30M Subika exploration decline project at Newmont’s 13M oz Ahafo mine in Ghana. Barminco CEO, Neil Warburton, said the main factor infl uencing recent contract wins was the package offered by Barminco, with safety at the core. “Our mid-tier and blue chip mining clients such as Xstrata, AngolGold Ashanti, Barrick, Rangold and Newmont, want to know that we not only have the fi nancial and human resources to do the job, they rely on us to bring a high level of safety and productivity to the job too,” he said. Warburton said contract wins with three of the top fi ve gold miners in the world vindicated the decision three years ago to enter the large but notoriously diffi cult African mining service market. “It has been a challenge entering the market, but we have done the hard yards now such as gaining an understanding of how to do business there and establishing training programs. It requires a signifi cant amount of time, focus and cost to establish an effi cient and sustainable contracting business in Africa, so AUMS provides a compelling value proposition to our clients. “Through AUMS we have proven the benefi ts of safe, modern mechanised mining methods to signifi cant American and South African gold producers in West Africa, and we are now effectively competing with traditional owner miners for the broader African underground mining market,” he said. Barminco CEO Neil Warburton In addition to bidding for work in West Africa through the AUMS joint venture, Barminco is also bidding for work in other parts of Africa. Business Development Manager, David Noort, has led an assessment of further opportunities in the region for the past six months. [Underground Mining] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ his announcement came hot on the heels of a three year $A60million underground mining services contract for Western Areas’ Spotted Quoll nickel mine, a $100 million contract with Aditya Birla Minerals’ “Two markets of particular interest are central and east Africa, which attracted exploration later than West Africa, so it a less mature market, although it is following a similar growth pattern,” Noort said. “In the next 10 years we expect to see a number of open pit mining projects convert to underground in the central and east African markets, which is what is currently occurring in West Africa. “On a longer term basis the Latin American market has some attraction, but it doesn’t hold the same level of strategic imperative as the central and east African markets currently does to us – but it is a market we are keeping a close eye on.” Drawing on its global experiences, Barminco is also paying attention to the work traditionally the domain of owner operators operating in Africa– including evaluation of deposits, mining strategies, planning advisory and potentially even engineering services and project management. “In the domestic market there are plenty of established providers, but in Africa clients are increasingly turning to us to access the full range of underground mining knowledge and skills, so we are looking to develop that capability in-house as another option.” Barminco 08 9416 1000 Email: marketing@barminco.com.au www.barminco.com.au

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