The Randgold/AngloGold Ashanti joint venture with SOKIMO, the Congolese parastatal, Kibali Gold Mine, is located about 560 kilometres from Kisangani, capital of the Orientale Province in the northeast region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The US$ 1,7 billion project is considered to be the largest African gold mine outside of South Africa. Needless to say, a project of such magnitude, located in typical central African bush 17 km away from the nearest town and without access to any existing electrical infrastructure, has presented those involved with a number of unique challenges.
Consisting of two phases being built concurrently, Phase 1, which is nearing completion, saw the development of the mine’s open pit section, metallurgical plant and tailings storage facility as well as the first of four hydropower plants on the Kibali River, designed to provide the mine’s power requirements. A backup system, comprising a number of diesel generators, will augment the hydroelectric power during the region’s dry season. Phase 2 saw the development of the facilities underground mining section and the three remaining hydropower plants. Local quantity surveyor, Professional Cost Consultants , was appointed by DRA, the project’s EPCM contractor, to provide pre- and post-contract quantity surveying services for Phase 1 for US$250 million of the construction contracts. These included plant earthworks, infrastructure, civils and building; the Nzoro 2 hydropower plant; tailings dam; structural steel supply and erection; and piping supply and erection.
With a team of eight quantity surveyors at peak, including two permanent site-based quantity surveyors, PCC’s involvement at pre-contract stage started in March 2011. Final account close outs of the various construction contracts are expected to be completed in September 2014. As one of the largest gold mining projects that PCC has been involved in outside of South Africa, Kibali presented a number of challenges from a quantity surveying perspective including:
● The fact that a number of the contracting parties hailed from different countries which made the agreement of contractual terms challenging. The parties involved had to find common ground to agree to contractual conditions as well as standard specifications;
● The remote location of the site impacted meeting monthly deadlines for the processing of payment certificates and financial reporting;
● The number of claims which resulted from construction progress being frequently affected by the region’s high rainfall. This required innovative agreements to be reached with the contractors.
PCC’s own well developed cost management systems and standards were applied to meet the challenges of this fast-tracked project. With experience in African projects across a range of commodities such as uranium, gold, iron ore and copper, PCC is geared to provide quantity surveying and cost management services for projects across the African continent. Established in 1995, PCC maintains extensive knowledge and experience in quantity surveying, cost management and project services in line with its position as a leading service provider in the mining, process and chemical industries.
In line with the dynamics of the industries in which it operates, the company recently underwent a re-branding initiative designed to bring its image in line with strategic thinking in terms of expansion as well as plotting its road map into the future. Its brand has evolved to capture its agile and dynamic approach to growth and client service based on partnerships, sustainability and accountability.