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Even today, the EPC and EPCM part of the

mining world is not one often covered or

talked about in depth in the investment

or mining press. There is often an assumption

that the mining companies themselves take full

responsibility for project design and

construction, when in most cases it is actually

these specialised groups that deliver the nuts

and bolts of the operation.

That said, there is a lot of variation in the

EPCM market, and on some projects

involvement can mean only certain aspects of

the overall mine delivery. Others can involve

management of very large projects, even as

part of a joint venture or consortium approach.

In addition, as the skills shortages situation

worsens, there may be continued efforts to

form joint ventures to combine available skills

to serve industry requirements.

George Bennett, Executive Director at MDM

comments: “There is definitely a skills shortage

building up of actual individuals that EPCM

contractors are looking for to do the work that

is coming down the line for the various EPCM

contracting companies.”

The mining customer may elect to either

select one main contractor for the entire

duration of a project from scoping to

implementation or select one contractor per

phase, which means a tendering process

between each phase. Or, they may pre-select

three or four potential contractors for future

tenders.

The size and/or nature of a project may

involve risks for one single main contractor

arising from such factors as complexity of

technical scope (specific process or

construction requirements), cost, schedule

duration, available resources, modularisation

and plant site conditions. The main contractor

may decide to partner with another contractor,

such as a specialised engineering or

construction company or fabrication yard, that

will provide services and inputs for the aspects

to help mitigate the anticipated risks. The

partners will collaborate in a close partnership

so that responsibility for profit, loss, and

liabilities is shared on an agreed-upon basis. JV

alliances are today put in place so as to cover

the overall scope of infrastructures, from mine

to port, railways and process facilities.

Strategic partnerships will also become more

prevalent. Bennett adds: “In general, there has

been a combination of JV/consortiums formed

for very large projects, normally very difficult to

execute under these terms, but also we see

some mining houses looking to form strategic

relationships and work with one or two

groups.”

Digby Glover, CEO at TWP comments:

“Larger clients are trying to secure key

resources, to serve their project pipelines, by

entering into partnership agreements with

larger ‘Tier 1’ suppliers. Smaller players, by

virtue of their size, do tend to focus on specific

markets or commodities. There will always be

a place for existing and emerging smaller

players, as the larger companies cannot be all

things to all people at all times. Joint ventures

are used periodically to potentially benefit from

the size and specific market focuses of the

respective JV partners.”

There is a significant degree of consolidation

occurring, where large multinationals are

buying smaller regional entities. But there have

also been larger mergers – notably Jacobs

Engineering taking over Aker Solutions’ Mining

and Metals business.