Perenti subsidiary Barminco will support IGO as it transitions its Cosmos nickel mine into care and maintenance, following the weakening of nickel prices hitting the sector.
Barminco was awarded a $200 million five-year contract in September 2020. The contract concerned Barminco providing underground mining services for development and production works at the Odysseus mine, which is part of Cosmos.
Following its plans to close Cosmos, IGO will also place the Odysseus underground nickel mine into care and maintenance by May 31, impacting 179 Barminco employees currently working at Odysseus. Barminco also has plant and equipment at the site worth $25 million.
“Over the coming months Barminco, working collaboratively with IGO, will implement strategies to transfer its workforce to other projects across its global portfolio,” Perenti said.
“Barminco operates a consistent fleet of underground mining equipment across its global operations and has expertise in managing the redeployment of equipment to offset scheduled stay in business and growth capital expenditure.
“This process will include the proactive management of capital deployment from (January 31) forward to ensure that scheduled capital expenditure across the portfolio is reduced to facilitate the redeployment of fleet from Cosmos in an efficient manner.”
The company said Cosmo’s suspension won’t impact its 2023–24 financial year proceeds. Perenti expects to deliver $3.3–$3.4 billion in revenue and $310–$325 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.
“Since December 2004, Barminco has proudly provided underground contract mining services across IGO’s portfolio of nickel mines. Over these 20 years, we have continued to be impressed by their collaborative, innovative and adaptive leadership,” Perenti president of contract mining Gabrielle Iwanow said.
“We look forward to continuing to provide our services across IGO’s remaining portfolio of assets and will work together with the team at IGO as they transition the Cosmos project into care and maintenance. We look forward to offering our services and support at Cosmos at an appropriate time in the future.”
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