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Our Mining & Metals group is finding new ways toward ever-better performance as we help customers address the growing cost of digging deeper and refining lower grades of metal. In Australia, by year-end 2011 we had nearly completed a two-stage expansion for Rio Tinto Alcan that will more than double the Yarwun alumina refinery’s capacity.
An iron ore concentrator and pellet plant expansion in Labrador City, Canada, for Iron Ore Company of Canada, involves a complex of mine-to-port projects.
We made progress on a $1.4 billion copper processing facility for Xstrata Copper in southern Peru, our first mining and metals project in that country since 2002.
The addition of a third berth to a coal terminal in Mackay, Australia, is one of several BHP Billiton projects managed by our innovative Brisbane Hub.
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Bechtel’s Mining & Metals group has a solid reputation for safely completing logistically challenging projects, often in remote areas, with great quality, on time and within budget. In 2011, we continued to develop closer customer relationships and build on our technical expertise and market reach. For two leading mining companies, we managed multiple projects under a program approach, which yields more efficient engineering, procurement, and construction; reduced third-party costs as scale leverage is achieved; and shorter time to market. Attention to quality at our Brisbane Hub with BHP Billiton was central to landing new projects in Australia’s Bowen Basin—home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s seaborne metallurgical coal. In 2011, the hub completed its first project, expansion of the Crinum North coal mine, under budget and ahead of schedule. Work continued on seven other coal projects, including ongoing expansion of the world’s largest coal-handling facility, in New South Wales. Copper continued as a mainstay of our business. Our Xstrata-Bechtel alliance brought us back to Peru for the first time since 2002, for two large projects. We recently completed the challenging Los Bronces copper concentrating facility for Anglo American, and we are adding a ball mill to the Laguna Seca copper concentrator at the Escondida Mine site in northern Chile for BHP Billiton. In 2012, we look to extend our copper business into Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil. Meanwhile, we maintained our leadership in alumina and aluminum, expanding the Yarwun alumina refinery near Gladstone, Australia, and managing construction of the Ras Al Khair aluminum smelter in Saudi Arabia. Last year was also marked by our growth into other commodities and countries, with new early work for an iron ore development in Guinea for Société des Mines de Fer de Guinée Ltee; for a copper, nickel, and strategic metals mine in Minnesota for twin Metals Minnesota LLC; and for Iron Ore Company of Canada’s facility in northern Canada. |
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