Netherlands-based consultancy and engineering group DHV announced that, pending competition commission approval, it has acquired the share capital of South African planning and design consultants of mining operations Turgis Technology.

DHV director of corporate business development Chris Engelsman says, “The merger of Turgis with the DHV group is a strategic move for both companies. It is an important step towards building a leading consultancy practice serving mining clients worldwide with mining operations and related infrastructure.

“We see mining as a very significant market at this moment and certainly for decades to come. And to have a very strong expertise company based in South Africa is very significant, because South Africa is an excellent platform for developing a global mining practice,” comments Engelsman.

“Turgis, within DHV, is the mining expertise group. And so that will make the difference for DHV as a company to become more active in the mining sector,” concludes Engelsman.

Engineering and environmental consultant SSI is DHV’s South African subsidiary. SSI employs about 850 staff in Southern Africa, with 20 branches in South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Mozambique.

SSI has a strong base in the public sector with its involvement in many projects involving infrastructure development. The company’s skills are used in a variety of development projects, from short-term focused design work to large projects involving complex contractual relationships that extend over several years.

Within Southern Africa, the joint venture known as Turgis-SSI Mining Consultants, will offer mining clients the combination of Turgis’s experience in the mining arena with SSI’s 85 years of experience in infrastructure development ser- vices, such as water, transportation, industrial, environmental, ports, aviation and rail, and project and construction management.

Outside South Africa, the company will operate and be branded as Turgis, a DHV company.
“The merger with DHV represents a very exciting growth path for our company. We look forward, specifically, to working with a large international team that will do a lot to support our own work globally and enable growth for our staff,” says Turgis CEO Rob Wilson.

“We are delighted at the prospect of being part of the DHV group and the SSI joint venture as it provides us with the capability to further develop our business locally and into world mining markets. The DHV-SSI tie-up provides us with substantial professional resources, not only to develop our core mining business but also to address the provision of mining ancillary ser- vices, such as structures, transportation and water-related services. Our offering is thus a comprehensive, single point responsibility capability to our mining clients,” adds Wilson.

Turgis chairperson Alex du Plessis comments, “The merger does a couple of things. Primarily, it answers a demand or need of our client base. Our client base is becoming increasingly global and demand of us that we do the same. And we are doing that. Turgis has been going now for 18 years and this sets us up with a very good base for sustainability well into the future. And those are the exciting things not only for our clients but also for our people.”

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