NEW MINES
TOP TRENDS IN MINE DEVELOPMENT By Alisha Hiyate
Construction is under way at Argonaut Gold’s Magino project in Ontario. CREDIT: ARGONAUT GOLD
W
ith rising metals prices spurring an increase in mine development activity across Canada, CMJ spoke to two of the engineering and construction management company contractors that are in the middle of the action to find out what they’re seeing on the ground. Wood is building the Côté gold joint venture between Iamgold and Sumitomo Metal Mines, in Ontario, while Ausenco is responsible for building the processing plant at Argonaut Gold’s Magino gold project, also in northern Ontario (see page 47). Contracting for cost control Judging by the work that Ausenco has recently landed, EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts are 44 | CANADIAN
MINING JOURNAL
on the rise in North America. In January, Argonaut Gold awarded a roughly $200-million fixed-bid EPC contract for its Magino gold project in Ontario to Ausenco. Ausenco also recently won a $76.5-million EPC contract for Silvercrest Metals’ Las Chispas silver-gold processing plant, in Mexico. And it’s in the midst of finalizing a $236-million fixed price EPC contract with Artemis Gold for a 5.5 million t/y processing plant and related infrastructure at the Blackwater gold project in B.C. In an EPC contract, the contractor guarantees the price at which the project will be delivered – providing cost certainty and transferring risk from the client to the contractor. In an EPCM contract (engineering, procurement and construc-
tion management) the client is at risk if costs escalate. EPC is especially attractive to companies that are not financing projects internally, and really need certainty around plant costs because of financing conditions – especially juniors and mid-tiers. Originally from Australia, Ausenco really started to get attention in North America after it completed a $90-million EPC contract to build a 2 million t/y CIL processing plant for Atlantic Gold’s Moose River gold mine in Nova Scotia in 2017. “I think that opened a lot of eyes for people,” says Garry Warren, Ausenco’s president, project delivery for North America. EPC had previously been “much more palatable” and popular in the Southwww.canadianminingjournal.com
