Pilbara housing costs fly in ointment for Fortescue
Aurecon and JKTech form strategic alliance
Engineering group Aurecon and mining services company JKTech have entered into a strategic alliance, which will be known as JK Aurecon.
Paul Hardy.
JKTech is the technology transfer company for the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland.
According to Aurecon, its experience with major infrastructure projects, combined with JKTech’s mineral processing methodology and ore characterisation techniques, will enable the alliance to reduce clients’ project costs.
It said this was an increasingly important consideration, given that mining infrastructure capital costs have increased by 30% over the last 12 years to become more than 70% of total project cost.
Aurecon’s chief executive, Paul Hardy, said a mine feasibility study should incorporate process plant design as one of several specialist packages. This will lower project costs, electricity and water usage and lead to more sustainable mines, he said.
“The importance of optimising the infrastructure design with the plant and mine design is becoming more critical as the costs and demands for power, water, steel and etcetera increase.”
Contact: www.aurecongroup.com
