The Perth office of global engineering firm Wood will lead work on a giant $1.1 billion manganese project in central Europe after winning a four-year contract.
The Perth office of global engineering firm Wood will lead work on a giant $1.1 billion manganese project in central Europe after winning a four-year contract.
Canadian company Euro Manganese Inc announced this week it has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for its Chvaletice manganese project to Wood Australia Pty Ltd.
Wood will also deliver front end engineering and design (FEED) services for the project.
Wood said the combined FEED and EPCM contract has a duration of approximately four years and will be delivered collaboratively by its project teams in Perth and Milan.
Located in the Czech Republic, the Chvaletice project is budgeted to have an initial capital cost of US$757 million ($A1.1 billion).
It involves the processing of historic mine tailings, traditionally a waste product, to extract manganese deposits from a decommissioned mine.
Wood will be responsible for the high-purity manganese processing facility.
Wood Australia senior vice president minerals & metals Greg Hayes said there were few people globally with relevant experience.
“We have the technical capability in Australia for this kind of project,” he said.
Mr Hayes explained that 97 per cent of high-purity manganese was produced in China.
Wood had built specialist expertise based on its work on nickel, cobalt and copper projects.
Euro Manganese said it selected Wood as its EPCM partner after receiving five high-quality bids in late 2022.
The contract is cost reimbursable and structured in two phases.
The first phase, to be run from Perth, comprises FEED studies and value engineering and is designed to support a final investment decision.
Subject to FID, the second EPCM phase will be jointly executed by the Perth and Milan offices.
Euro Manganese president & CEO Matthew James said awarding the EPCM contract was another key milestone for the company.
“It is the result of an extensive and robust selection process, and I am very pleased to be partnering with such a high calibre, tier-one engineering firm,” Mr James said.
“We look forward to building a world-class facility to produce high-purity manganese, an essential component in lithium-ion batteries for EV vehicles.”
Demand for manganese is forecast to increase almost eight-fold over the next ten years in response to the dramatic uptake in electric vehicles.
The European Commission recently included manganese on its list of critical minerals.
The Chvaletice site is the only significant identified source of manganese in the European Union.
Wood’s UK-based CEO Ken Gilmartin said the project holds real significance for the company.
“We have the mineral project capability and specialist expertise in advanced hydrometallurgy to successfully deliver this innovative project,” Mr Gilmartin said.
“This is a perfect example of the kind of projects we are passionate about as we continue to design a sustainable future for energy and materials.”
This is the second very large contract to be awarded to a Perth engineering firm this week.
NRW Holdings subsidiary Primero Group has been awarded a $973 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for Northern Star Resources’ Super pit expansion.
