Mining project firm TWP, now part of the Basil Read construction and mining company, is to open in Peru and Abu Dhabi, TWP CEO Nigel Townshend said recently.

“We’re opening up in Lima in January as TWP, and in Abu Dhabi in conjunction with Basil Read,” Townshend said.

A presence in Libya was being considered and the possible acquisition of an Australian company might provide a West African presence.

The company already has offices in Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and is also considering opening in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

TWP delisted from the JSE in December and was absorbed into the JSE-listed Basil Read, whose CEO, Marius Heyns, said that the two companies would continue to operate autonomously.

Heyns noted that there was demand for the sort of turnkey services that the combined Basil Read-TWP could offer in Africa, the Middle East and Australia.

“It’s clear that clients want full turnkey delivery,” he said.

TWP’s list of services encompasses engineering, procurement, construction and management and also full turnkey services, while Basil Read offers construction, contract mining, development and now also engineering.

It would be TWP that would deal with the large turnkey projects on behalf of the group, Heyns said.

Townshend told Mining Weekly: “The offering that we are going to be able to put on the table, together with Basil Read, is one in which we design, project-manage, construct and possibly also operate.

“Increasingly, particularly in Africa, we are seeing that mining projects don’t just involve mining and processing, but also power, road, port and infrastructure projects, without which mining can’t get off the ground,” Townshend added.

There was also considerable synergy between Basil Read, TWP’s core engineering skills and TWP’s architectural company, which put the combined group in a position to offer public–private partnership deals, of which there were many on the cards in South Africa.

The combined group would employ 6 000 people and was expected to turn over R7-billion-plus in its 2010 January-to-December financial year, Heyns said.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.