PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Primero Group has been awarded preferred engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) status at fellow listed Strandline Resources’ Coburn mineral sands project, in Western Australia.
The EPC work would amount to some A$150-million in revenue for Primero, and would cover the EPC, and commissioning and performance testing of the wet concentration plant, mineral separation plant and associated processing circuits.
Strandline MD Luke Graham on Tuesday said that the appointment of Primero marked another key step in the company’s strategy to bring the Coburn project into production and to establish an important relationship with leading service providers.
The full project award is subject to Strandline taking a final investment decision in the coming months.
Strandline earlier this month awarded a A$21-million fixed price contract to supply in-pit dozer mining units for the Coburn project, and has previously announced a series of binding offtake agreements at the project with consumers in America, Europe and China.
Located 240 km north of Geraldton, the Coburn project has ore reserves of 523-million tonnes and an initial mine life of 22.5 years at a planned average mining rate of 23.4-million tonnes a year.
Products from the development will be used globally in items including ceramic tiles, refractory, paint, titanium metal and welding rod applications. First production is expected within 18 months of the start of project construction.