Preferred contractor announced for Pilbara Minerals' $148m Pilgangoora project

Pilbara Minerals Limited has just awarded RCR Tomlinson Ltd an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract – worth approximately $148 million – for works on the Pilgangoora Lithium-Tantalum project in Western Australia.

“This contract award is a result of our intelligent engineering approach to providing an industry leading technical solution to Pilbara Minerals. This win, when added to recent awards for the Silvergrass Project and Dugald River project, firmly places RCR as a market leader in the engineering, procurement and construction of mineral processing plants in the mining and minerals sector. It will also increase RCR’s order book to a new record high of approximately $1.1 billion,” said RCR Managing Director/CEO Dr Paul Dalgleish.

The scope of work to be undertaken by RCR will comprise of the EPC of Pilgangoora’s two million tonnes per annum Lithium-Tantalum Processing Plant, including wet and dry circuit with concentrator as well as associated plant and commissioning at Pilabara Mineral’s mine 120-kilometres south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region.

The contract has been awarded in two stages. The first stage will involve a two-month front-end engineering and design (FEED) – worth $10.3 million – which is set to commence immediately together with the procurement of major equipment. The second stage will depend on Pilbara Minerals’ final investment decision (FID) for the Pilgangoora project – which is expected to commence construction in May 2017.

The Pilgangoora lithium processing plant is scheduled for first production during the first quarter of 2018.

For this project, Western Australia-based companies Minnovo and Primero Group are the preferred subcontractors who will provide technical and engineering support to RCR at Pilgangoora.

“We look forward to delivering the processing plant for this world-class lithium-tantalum project for Pilbara Minerals,” Dr Dalgleish said.

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Source: RCR Tomlinson Ltd and Australian Mining