Barminco secures $157m underground contract extension with IGO at Nova

Perenti has announced that our underground mining business, Barminco, has signed a contract extension with IGO Ltd to continue mining at the Nova underground nickel mine in the Fraser Range, Western Australia.

Barminco’s involvement at the Nova mine commenced in early 2015 when it was a greenfield site. This contract extension is worth $157 million and runs for 29 months.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti said “We are immensely proud that Barminco has been present since the beginning of the Nova operation. This contract extension is a testament to the strength of our relationship with IGO and underscores our commitment to collaborating with our clients to generate value together.”

Gabrielle Iwanow, President of Contract Mining at Perenti said “Barminco is excited to continue the delivery of the world-class critical minerals operation at Nova. The ongoing safe and reliable mine production showcases how a collaborative approach and willingness to explore innovative solutions can deliver positive outcomes, even amidst significant market challenges.”

View ASX announcement

Perenti and Sandvik to collaborate in developing diesel-electric equipment

Global mining services provider Perenti and Sandvik have signed a memorandum of understanding at MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® 2024 centered on developing cutting-edge diesel-electric equipment for underground mines. This collaboration aims to enhance sustainability, efficiency, and productivity in underground mining operations.

Under the agreement, the companies will work together to optimize underground diesel-electric loaders and trucks. Through Perenti’s leading underground mining business, Barminco, the collaboration will focus on improving Barminco’s operations and generating valuable insights and data to further refine Sandvik’s diesel-electric technology.

The initial phase of the collaboration involves establishing a shared vision for optimizing Sandvik’s diesel-electric machines to meet Perenti’s requirements. Perenti will contribute to the machine design and provide feedback at various testing stages, including pre-factory testing, operational testing and trial testing.

Mark Norwell, Perenti Managing Director & CEO, welcomed the agreement, saying Perenti was excited to explore the full potential of diesel-electric solutions as part of its journey to decarbonisation.

“We are constantly looking for ways to improve the working environment and boost underground safety, efficiency and sustainability,” he said. “Diesel-electric equipment has the potential to do this.

Collaborating with our partners is a critical step in the process, and we believe that working with Sandvik enables us to benefit from cutting-edge technology and also play a role in shaping the equipment that the wider industry will be using tomorrow. That’s good for us and it’s good for our customers.”

Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, emphasized that the mutual benefits of collaboration often do lead to better products – and safer, more efficient operations.

“Perenti, through its businesses including Barminco, is one of the world’s leading mining services providers, and can provide us with design suggestions and fantastic insights into real-world mining conditions,’ he said. “Together, we can create equipment optimized for Perenti’s working conditions while also developing the most advanced diesel-electric machines available anywhere in the world.”

Diesel-electric mining equipment is seen by many within the industry as a way of achieving cleaner, more sustainable and more reliable mining, without the structural changes required for a fully electric operation.

Diesel-electric machines typically have a diesel engine that drives a generator which, in turn, provides electricity to motors responsible for movement and operating equipment. Unlike conventional diesel, diesel-electric machines generally have no torque converter and fewer rotating components, allowing for a more flexible design, requiring less maintenance and enabling lower operating costs while maintaining high availability.

Sandvik first announced last year that it was moving ahead with developing a diesel-electric range of underground loaders and trucks to complement its leading battery-electric offering. The decision followed the showcasing of Sandvik’s Toro™ diesel-electric truck demonstrator to customers at a technology workshop in Turku, Finland in 2022.

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, September 25, 2024

Barminco secures underground contract extension with Barrick at Hemlo, Canada

Perenti is pleased to announce that its underground mining business, Barminco, has signed a three-year contract with Barrick Gold Corporation to continue contract mining at the Hemlo gold mine in Canada.

Hemlo is located 350 kilometres east of Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada and has been in production since 1989. In 2019, Barrick transitioned the operation to a contract mining model from owner operator, and Barminco has been the main underground contractor since. The contract is initially for 36 months, but also includes two 12-month options to extend. If these options are exercised, Barminco will be operating at Hemlo until 2029.

Under the terms of the existing contract, Barrick owns the current fleet of underground equipment and will procure any additional fleet required for the mine. This significantly reduces the capital intensity of the project for Barminco. The total contract value is worth more than AUD$200 million and involves underground mine development, production and mining support services.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti said “The continuation of our relationship with Barrick at the Hemlo gold mine for at least the next three years is another great example of how our Contract Mining team extends contracts over the life of a mine operation. The long-term nature of these relationships is built on a foundation of creating enduring value and certainty for our clients. This aligns our operational success with the goals of our clients and creates a collaborative working environment.

“The low capital intensity of this project is one of several capital light contracts we operate across the organisation, with our first capital light contract secured in 2018.”

Gabrielle Iwanow, President of Contract Mining at Perenti said “We are pleased to continue working with Barrick and demonstrating our leading underground capability in the North American market. Barrick is an important client for Barminco and we look forward to continuing to partner with them to deliver safe production at Hemlo.”

Changes to the Perenti Group Executive Committee

Perenti is pleased to announce the following changes to our Group Executive Committee.  

Gabrielle Iwanow has been appointed President of Perenti’s Contract Mining Division. Gabrielle is one of Australia’s leading mining executives with extensive experience working at senior operational and executive levels within the resources sector.

Gabrielle was also named as one of the Top-100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining in 2020. Her career includes significant time in senior management positions at ASX 100 listed mining companies OZ Minerals and Rio Tinto, and most recently she was the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Mincor Resources.

Paul Muller, currently President Contract Mining, will be taking up a new role within the Perenti Group Executive Committee, following a short period of study leave between January and May 2024.

Mark Norwell, Perenti Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, said, “A key strategic focus for the Group is managing and developing our senior talent across the organisation, ensuring we have robust succession plans in place and continue building capability and capacity within our senior leader cohort, including within the Group Executive Committee.

“Gabrielle’s addition to our Group Executive Committee provides the business with additional depth in talent as we continue to build on our record FY23 financial results, transformative acquisition of DDH1, ongoing execution of our 2025 strategy and development of our 2030 strategy.

“I would like to welcome Gabrielle to Perenti and thank Paul for his ongoing contribution to Perenti. This is an exciting time for the business as we continue to deliver on our purpose of creating enduring value and certainty for our clients, investors, our people and the communities in which we operate.”

Perenti and DDH1 – Implementation of Scheme of Arrangement

Perenti is pleased to announce that the DDH1 Limited scheme of arrangement has been implemented today and Perenti has now acquired 100% of the issued share capital of DDH1.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti, said Perenti is pleased to welcome the DDH1 team members who are joining the Perenti Group today and looks forward to working together to continue to deliver value and certainty for all our stakeholders.

“The acquisition of DDH1 is a very important milestone in the continued growth and evolution of Perenti, and we are very pleased to welcome the circa 2,000 DDH1 employees, their four highly respected brands of DDH1 Drilling, Strike Drilling, Ranger Drilling and Swick Mining Services along with their expansive client base into the wider Perenti Group. DDH1 leverages and builds on nearly 40 years of drilling expertise that our Ausdrill brand holds, enabling Perenti to establish a stand-alone Drilling Services Division of significant scale and global relevance. Perenti is now one of the largest drilling services contractors globally offering a complete range of underground and surface drilling services, including specialisation in deep directional drilling.

“With the completion of the acquisition, we look forward to demonstrating the significant value proposition that the combination of Perenti and DDH1 can offer to all our stakeholders.

For more information about the completion of the transaction visit our Investor Centre.

Perenti increases work in hand

Perenti has secured the following new work and contract extensions:

• $70 million, six-month contract for the continuation of underground development and production works at the Regis Resources Garden Well and Rosemont underground gold mines. Barminco and Regis continue to progress collaboratively towards further and material contract extensions at these two mines.

• $27 million, 24-month contract for exploration surface drilling services at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland.

• $14 million, 24-month contract award for underground diamond drilling works at Catalyst Metal’s Plutonic underground gold mine in Western Australia, subject to finalisation of contract terms.

Furthermore, AUMS (through UMA, a joint venture with Rocksure International) received a Limited Notice to Proceed related to the initial underground development works at the Newmont Akyem underground gold mine located in Ghana. The finalisation of contractual negotiations continues, however, once finalised it is forecast that the contract could represent ~A$32 million (US$21 million) of revenue over an initial term of 11 months, with a capital structure that is likely to be similar to that adopted for Newmont’s Subika project.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti, said “The award of these contracts and the Limited Notice to Proceed across both our underground and surface mining businesses demonstrates the diversity of our service offering and the strength of the relationships we share with our clients. Collectively these three contracts and the Limited Notice to Proceed represent nearly A$150 million of revenue across FY2024 and into FY2025 and come after the recent announcement in which Perenti secured ~A$360 million of revenue at the Sandfire Resources A4 project in Botswana.”

Perenti awarded US$235 million contract expansion at Motheo

Perenti is pleased to announce our surface mining business in Africa, African Mining Services (AMS), has been awarded the contract for open pit mining services at the Sandfire Resources A4 open pit within the larger Motheo Copper Mine in Ghanzi, Botswana. The contract is valued at US$235 million (~A$360 million) over a term of 73 months.

Under the terms of the contract, AMS will deliver all surface mining services associated with development and production activities at the A4 open pit. The A4 open pit is located approximately 8km to the west of the Sandfire’s existing T3 Open Pit, where AMS has successfully progressed from development into production works. Perenti anticipates A4 pre-production and development work to commence in September 2023, with pre-strip mining to start in October 2023.

The T3 and A4 open pits are expected to be operated as a larger, integrated mining operation and therefore will leverage the resulting benefits of scale and the operational synergies to optimise the return on capital aligned with our financial targets. The primary synergies include the optimisation of existing infrastructure, mining equipment, maintenance facilities and both technical and operational management. Perenti’s current FY24 guidance (as released to the ASX on 22 August 2023) already takes these operational synergies and capital efficiencies into account and includes the respective A4 revenue and earnings, although as with every opportunity we will be looking to generate further value for our client and shareholders.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti said: “We are excited about the opportunity to expand our partnership with Sandfire Resources. Motheo is a long-life asset in the Kalahari Copper belt, and the expansion of our role here is in keeping with our strategy of disciplined growth within top-tier mining jurisdictions with high quality partners. Sandfire is now one of our largest clients and over the term of the combined contracts, the T3 and A4 open pits are expected to generate total revenue of over A$1.1 billion, delivering strong returns for Perenti and its shareholders.”

Paul Muller, President of Contract Mining said: “Since Barminco commenced operations in 2019 and AMS later in 2021, Perenti has established itself as the leading international mining contractor in the Kalahari Copper belt. With the award of our third mine in the region, we look forward to playing our part in Sandfire’s expansion of their world class Motheo Copper Mine. Beyond this, I am proud of the contribution Barminco, AMS and Perenti continue to make to the development of Botswana’s mining industry and the community more broadly.”

Perenti delivers record financial performance in FY23

Perenti has delivered record FY23 financial results, headlined by record revenue and record underlying earnings. The sustained improvement in financial and operational performance has placed Perenti in a strong financial position, which enabled the announcement in June 2023 of the value accretive acquisition of Australian-based drilling business DDH1, with final completion expected in October 2023.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & CEO of Perenti, said: “Perenti continues to go from strength to strength, as the foundations we have laid with our 2025 Strategy allow us to deliver excellent operational performance, strong client relationships and disciplined commercial and capital management.

“Year-on-year we delivered significant revenue and earnings improvement as our growth projects continued to progress through their respective ramp-up phases, as our strategy enabled each of our businesses to capitalise on and take full advantage of the improvement to macro-economic conditions, including the ‘end of COVID’ and as we saw continued strength in markets for the metals and minerals we mine on behalf of our clients. Although I would note that various macro-economic challenges still exist, however we are cautiously optimistic.

“Our ~9,000 people have again demonstrated their commitment to continually doing better, every day, for our clients. On behalf of the Board and Group Executive I sincerely thank them for their contribution to the business.

“Perenti is focused on supporting sustainable mining, with our investment in developing mines for the future, and our focus on reducing our own emissions.

“Perenti has a strong track record of delivering value and certainty for all of its stakeholders. As we look to the future, our proposed acquisition of DDH1 will complement and enhance the Perenti business and further cement our diversified global value proposition.”

You can read more about Perenti’s FY23 Annual Results on our Investor Centre.

Perenti committed to achieve gender balance in signing up to 40:40 Vision

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2023 and the focus on #embracingequity, we are pleased to announce Perenti has signed up to the 40:40 Vision, and in doing so, we have committed to achieve gender balance in our Board and executive leadership by 2030.

Perenti’s commitment to 40:40 is a pledge to have Board and Executive representation of 40 per cent women and 40 per cent men by 2030 with 20 per cent any gender.

Managing Director & CEO Mark Norwell said Perenti had joined other listed companies in signing up its support for industry super fund HESTA’s 40:40 Vision.

“Perenti recognises the business and social importance of achieving gender diversity. Participating in the 40:40 Vision is a way of furthering this commitment and ensuring we hold ourselves accountable to these targets and are transparent about our progress.

“A key finding of our It’s Not OK program, which aims to eliminate harmful behaviour in our workplace, is that in order to build a safe, diverse and inclusive workforce where people are respected for who they are, we must improve female participation across the business at an accelerated rate.

“There is clear evidence that gender balance in leadership is not only fairer, but also very positive for overall business performance.”

Perenti first half FY23 results and business update

Perenti has released its financial and operational results to the market for the first half of FY23.  

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & CEO of Perenti, said: “First and foremost, my thoughts are with the families, friends and workmates of Trevor Davis and Dylan Langridge, our colleagues who tragically lost their lives as a result of the incident at the Dugald River underground mine last week. This is a tragic incident and a devastating loss, with a magnitude that has been and will continue to be felt across our whole organisation. I would like to thank everyone who carried out the search and rescue effort for Trevor and Dylan last week as well as the wider organisation for their support to people directly involved in the incident or more generally, the care provided to each other.

“During the period from 1 July 2022 through to 31 December 2022, Perenti’s ability to deliver for our clients with strong operating performance under a sustainable and disciplined financial framework – while caring for our people and communities – underpins our strong results for this half.

“Our dedicated team of over 9,000 employees have done a fantastic job of developing and executing our 2025 Strategy to the point where we have delivered consecutive periods of earnings and margin expansion. This result is something for everyone at Perenti to be proud of.

“We recognise that the current external market conditions have improved since Covid-19 restrictions started to ease and that our business is in a position to take advantage of these conditions. However, we are also acutely aware of the potential volatility that still exists and we working to manage the controllable aspects of this environment by remaining disciplined in the execution of our strategic objectives.”

You can read more about Perenti’s first half FY23 results and business update here.

Ausdrill secures contract extension at Fimiston

Perenti has announced that its subsidiary Ausdrill, has been awarded a new Australian surface contract at the Northern Star Resources owned Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (‘KCGM’) Fimiston open pit gold mine in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The new circa $160 million, 60-month contract incorporates activities that commenced 1 March 2022 and will continue to March 2027.

Ausdrill has been contracted to provide up to 14 production blast hole drill rigs to support ongoing operations. Given the scale and quality of its existing Ausdrill fleet, Perenti does not expect any new capital outlay to support this contract.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & CEO of Perenti said, “We continue to remain focused on supporting the families, friends, and colleagues of Trevor and Dylan following the tragic incident at the MMG owned and Barminco operated, Dugald River mine in Queensland last week. However, over the weekend Ausdrill executed a material contract and in-line with our disclosure obligations, we are providing the market with an update.

“We have secured our largest ever surface contract in Australia, which continues our relationship at one of Ausdrill’s first ever projects. We are very proud to be part of Kalgoorlie’s history and we look forward to continuing to deliver certainty and value for Northern Star, our employees and business partners.”

He added, “Since the release of our operational update on 19 December 2022, we have continued to deliver on our strategic objectives and while we have seen some strengthening of the Australian dollar relative to the US dollar, we have seen overall margin improvement and continued to win or extend existing contracts, positively resolve commercial negotiations and further simplify our business. Market conditions continue to remain favourable into the second half of FY23 in support of further delivery against our 2025 strategy. We look forward to providing additional details when we release our 1H23 results tomorrow.”

Paul Muller, President Contract Mining at Perenti said, “Ausdrill began with two drill rigs in 1987 at the Fimiston mine. Since then, Ausdrill has continued to expand its services to include blast hole and grade control drilling, utilising a fleet of drill rigs specifically designed and manufactured (in-house) to meet the unique specifications required by the Fimiston open pit mine.

“We look forward to continuing to provide our value-add expertise to the KCGM operations while extending our long-standing relationship with our local and regional stakeholders.”

Perenti secures contract extension at the Mako Gold Mine in Senegal

Perenti is pleased to announce that its surface mining business in Africa, African Mining Services (AMS) has been awarded a contract extension for surface mining activities, including load and haul, drill and blast, grade control and crusher feed, at Resolute Mining’s Mako Gold Mine in Senegal. The contract is valued at approximately US$185 million over a period of four years, commencing 1 January 2022.

Through AMS, Perenti has provided surface mining activities at the Mako mine since 2017. This contract extension includes updated commercial conditions and in-line with Perenti’s Capital Management Policy, the Company will optimise the management of existing fleet and equipment at the project, which is forecast to have a low capital expenditure requirement and generate sustainable returns.

The extension of the Mako contract does not have a material impact on Perenti’s FY23 guidance, which remains unchanged and as announced on 19 December 2022.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & CEO of Perenti said “The Mako project has been a part of the AMS portfolio for several years and we are pleased that our strong operational performance and relationship with Resolute Mining, has allowed us to execute this contract extension, which supports our 2025 Strategy. We are confident that our dedicated, predominantly local workforce will continue to deliver value for our client. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Resolute Mining at the Mako project as we seek to deliver enduring value and certainty for all our stakeholders.”

Perenti announces FY23 guidance upgrade

For the second time this financial year, we are pleased to provide an operational update and deliver an upgrade to our FY23 guidance.

Since the initial guidance revision in November, Perenti has continued positive momentum, securing improvements to commercial conditions across a number of Australian and African projects. In addition, our subsidiary Barminco has been awarded a new contract at Evolution’s Ernest Henry underground gold and copper mine in Queensland as well as secured a variation to expand its work scope at Regis Resources’ Garden Well mine.

As a result of these positive developments, the revised FY23 guidance now puts expected revenue between $2.7 billion and $2.9 billion and EBIT(A) between $230 million and $250 million.

Perenti CEO and Managing Director, Mark Norwell said: “Together, over the last four years, our 9,000 dedicated employees have been unrelenting in delivering on our purpose of creating value and certainty for our stakeholders. Over these four years, by being smarter together and by taking no shortcuts, Perenti has navigated a period of unprecedented uncertainty and, whilst challenges still exist, we are now seeing the significant effort of our people translate into value upside to our shareholders.”

He added, “In addition to generating greater returns in FY23, we are focused on continuing to pursue business and project optimisation initiatives which will facilitate the delivering our 2025 strategy. Our Strategy is designed to drive positive momentum in shareholder value well into the future. Perenti’s outlook is underpinned by our world class Contract Mining Division, and the continued development of our Mining Services and idoba Divisions. Our focus on generating enduring value for our people, clients and communities, will ensure we continue to deliver sustainable returns for our shareholders.”

You can read the full story in our Investor Centre.

Perenti and ABB agree to jointly explore solutions to help mining customers decarbonise operations

Perenti has signed an agreement with leading global technology company ABB to collaborate and explore approaches to support net zero emissions targets for underground and open-pit mines. Experts from the two companies will work together to address electrification in mine hauling operations, power distribution, energy efficiency and power management.

Perenti’s significant mining expertise and technical capability will be complemented by ABB’s technology expertise. Together, the teams plan to explore business models and solutions to provide wider services for pilot, brownfield and greenfield mining customer projects to support the electrification of operations.

ABB has been calling for open collaboration within the mining industry and has taken action on several similar initial non-binding agreements to build commitments with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), technology innovators and mining companies. Key relationships have subsequently been formalised, with technologies and solutions created as a result of these deals.

“Mining customers are committed to facing environmental, societal and economic challenges head on as they aim to decarbonise mining operations,” said Joachim Braun, Division President, Process Industries, ABB. “With ABB’s sector leading position in electric-mine technology development, and Perenti’s excellence and experience in mine development and mine operations, the scope of this collaboration is a perfect opportunity to make real progress in providing electric solutions that will decarbonise the industry.”

Mark Norwell, Perenti Managing Director & CEO with Joachim Braun, Divisional President, Process Industries, ABB

“ABB and Perenti share a vision to develop energy efficient solutions for the mining industry,” said Mark Norwell, Managing Director & CEO, Perenti. “By combining our experience across mining operations and digital solutions with ABB’s leading technologies we are focused on supporting the decarbonisation of mining through electrification. We look forward to working with ABB on this exciting new venture.”

ABB is committed to creating sustainable progress for today and for future generations by helping mining customers through their energy transition. ABB launched its ABB Ability™ eMine portfolio of technologies and methodologies last year, an approach to make the all-electric mine possible, with fully integrated electrification and digital systems from mine to port.

Perenti is committed to acting on climate change through promoting innovation, developing and deploying low emissions technology and working with its clients to implement projects that improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions. 

You can read the full story in our Investor Centre.

Perenti secures additional ~$520 million of Australian revenue with new Cowal Underground contract

 

Perenti is pleased to announce that its Barminco underground mining business has been awarded the contract for all underground development and production works for Evolution Mining’s Cowal Underground project in New South Wales.

Barminco, a leading global underground mining services business, with operations in Australia, Africa and North America, is currently developing an exploration decline and conducting diamond drilling services at Cowal. The award of this new contract significantly expands Barminco’s scope at the site to include the development of a second portal, all underground development and production works, and associated underground mining services required to support the continued mill feed of underground ore.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director and CEO of Perenti said the award of the Cowal contract aligns with Perenti’s strategy of increasing its earnings in top-tier regions and with top-tier clients.

“The Cowal contract represents one of the largest underground mining projects in Barminco’s history, generating revenue of nearly $520 million with an initial term of four years, from a contract commencement date in early July 2022,” Mr Norwell said.

“This contract award represents not only a significant expansion and continuation of our first underground contract in New South Wales but is also a fantastic opportunity for Perenti to build on our strong working relationship with Evolution, one of Australia’s premier gold mining companies.”

Mining Chief Executive Officer, Paul Muller said, “Our purpose is to create enduring value and certainty for our clients, our people, our shareholders and the communities in which we work. At Cowal we will prioritise local and indigenous training and employment and local procurement opportunities while maintaining a transparent and consistent approach to community and indigenous engagement. We look forward to working with Evolution to develop a safe, sustainable, highly-productive world class operation in New South Wales.”

To read the ASX release visit the ASX announcements section of our website.

Perenti delivers solid results in-line with expectations

Perenti has delivered solid financial and operational results for the six months ended 31 December 2021 that reflect significant revenue growth despite the continued COVID-19 challenges, while progressing the ramp-up of several growth projects and taking proactive portfolio and capital management measures to generate cash and support sustainable leverage reduction.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director and CEO of Perenti, said: “We are pleased with the overall performance of the Group over the last six months. The business has delivered solid consolidated results that show an improvement on the prior half and are consistent with guidance despite the continuation, and in some cases worsening, of macro-economic and operating conditions.

“Labour has remained tight, supply chains have continued to see disruptions, and the impacts of COVID-19 have arguably worsened both domestically and internationally. Yet despite this, our people have remained resilient which is absolutely appreciated by all of our Executives and the Board.

“Impressively, we welcomed almost 1,000 additional employees into the business, we continued to see improvements in our AMS business reflecting the positive outcomes of our recent strategic review and remained focused on delivering on our commitments while creating enduring value for all stakeholders.

“Looking ahead to the remainder of FY22, we expect the current macro-economic landscape to persist until the end of FY22 but remain confident in Perenti’s ability to continue to deliver on our commitments to our employees, our clients, our suppliers and our shareholders.”

To the full Perenti 1H22 Results media release.   

Perenti delivers solid FY2021 Results: proactively managing headwinds and positioning for growth

Perenti has delivered an FY21 result consistent with its revised expectations, achieving solid operational performance and growth from its Underground Mining business and an improved second half performance from its Surface Mining business.

This solid result was delivered in a year where the Company’s financial performance was impacted by headwinds including the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our international operations, tighter Australian labour market and a strengthening Australian dollar.

Perenti continues to invest in our people, systems and mining equipment to build strong foundations and support the ramp-up of the Company’s key growth projects in FY22 to deliver business growth in FY23 and beyond.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director and CEO of Perenti, said: “Firstly, I want to recognise our people, who provided high quality mining services to our clients with a focus on continuity of operations to deliver enduring value and certainty.

“Our Underground business continued to be a standout performer, delivering a third consecutive year of earnings growth with a strong FY21 contribution. Impressively, this growth has been delivered in a year where we saw the slower than anticipated ramp up at several recently secured international projects due to the prolonged, and ever-changing, nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As expected, due to the planned contraction of our Surface Mining business following our strategic transition out of Yanfolila and Boungou, FY21 revenue, EBIT(A) and margins were softer than FY20. Pleasingly during the second half of FY21, earnings and margins generated by the Surface business more than doubled compared to the first half.

This tangible and sustainable improvement in performance is attributable to the implementation of the findings of the AMS Strategic Review and continued solid performance from our Australian business. We are in a good position to move our AMS business forward and are encouraged by securing the Motheo and Iduapriem contracts, both of which are examples of the quality of contracts that AMS will pursue.”

“The Investments business navigated difficult conditions during FY21 with softer east coast equipment rental market conditions impacting revenue and earnings. In response, we revitalised the leadership team and have increased our market activities including the implementation of a more targeted sales strategy, which has increased asset utilisation rates by 5 per cent since December 2020.

“We continue to look to the future. Throughout FY21 we made prudent investments in our people and systems, while managing our balance sheet to ensure we are well positioned to fund our 2025 strategic growth aspirations. An integral part of this strategic growth is our technology driven service offering, idoba, launched in July. Through idoba we plan to improve our competitive advantage by developing a unique capability in emerging digital mining, technology and innovation.”

You can read the full ASX Release here.

Perenti’s expansion in North America continues with Letter of Intent for works at the Red Chris Project

Perenti is pleased to announce its subsidiary, leading hard-rock underground miner Barminco, has received a Letter of Intent from Newcrest Mining Limited for the development of an underground exploration decline at the Red Chris Project in British Columbia, Canada.

The Red Chris Project is a 70:30 joint venture partnership between Newcrest and Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) and is located approximately 1,700kms north of Vancouver.

The Red Chris Project lies within Tahltan Territory, home to some of Canada’s richest mineral resources in an area known as the Golden Triangle. Barminco has developed a strong relationship with the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation and intends to establish the foundations for an ongoing partnership to create social and economic value for the members of the Tahltan Nation and the region.

Perenti Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mark Norwell said the opportunity at Red Chris is a very encouraging step on the road to expanding the Company’s North American presence.

“Geographic expansion has been a key focus of our 2025 strategy and this early-stage work at Red Chris builds on our regional growth capabilities after commencing in North America just over a year ago” Mr Norwell said.

“The underground exploration decline works are a significant opportunity and puts the Company in a strong position to access the much wider scope of works associated with the potential block cave development that Newcrest aims to progress towards in the coming years. This project fits with our strategy as we continue to pursue high quality growth opportunities within attractive mining jurisdictions, partnering with top-tier producers holding multi-mine portfolios and long-life, expandable assets.”

Mining Chief Executive Officer Paul Muller said: “We acknowledge and respect the Tahltan as the First Nations people of the area and we look forward to working together at the Red Chris Project. In partnership with the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation, Barminco will also look to work with local Tahltan-operated businesses and provide local employment, education, training and development initiatives to support the social and economic development of the Tahltan people.”

“Our focus at Red Chris will be on delivering safe, reliable and efficient development services and we look forward to building a long and productive relationship with Newcrest, the members of the Tahltan Nation and all of our stakeholders in British Columbia.”

For more information click here.

Disciplined strategy execution and strong Underground performance underpin Perenti’s 1H21 financial results

Perenti has delivered robust operating and financial results for the first half of financial year 2021 (FY21) and continues to deliver value and certainty for our clients through disciplined strategy execution, despite the challenging global environment.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director and CEO of Perenti, said: “The financial and operational performance of the Group in the first half of FY21 was very encouraging as we continue to take steps to deliver on our 2025 Group Strategy while navigating the challenging and ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to impact our international operations.

“Our COVID-19 taskforce has done a fantastic job putting the steps in place to protect our people and our business from the most severe impacts of the pandemic, allowing us to deliver continuity of service for our clients. While this is a great achievement, we must also recognise that our financial results have been impacted, not only by COVID-19, but by the strengthening of the Australian dollar against the United States dollar and a softer than expected Australian east coast equipment rental market.

“Our Underground business delivered record earnings of $110.0 million, representing 90% of our Group EBIT(A) at an average margin of 15.1%. In addition, since 1 July 2020 the Group secured $970.0 million of new underground work and contract extensions, predominantly in Western Australia, demonstrating the strength of Perenti and our ability to generate value for our clients through the delivery of high-quality mining solutions.

“The Surface business remained profitable, generating $4.0 million EBIT(A), supported by our Australian operations and the Sanbrado Project in Burkina Faso. During the half we completed our strategic review of African Mining Services (AMS) and implemented a number of the report findings, including progressing negotiations of an early exit from the loss-making Yanfolila contract and the conclusion of the sale of Boungou assets. Upon completion, these two actions are expected to generate between $80 to $90 million of cash, of which $14 million has been received, to redeploy across the business where we are targeting to generate returns of +20%.

“Another outcome of the strategic review is the consolidation of our Surface and Underground businesses into a single Mining business, under the leadership of Paul Muller as our Mining CEO. Paul has been the CEO of Barminco for 3.5 years and is highly experienced in both surface and underground mining and is an excellent leader with an enviable track record of delivering positive outcomes and I look forward to his continued success.

“Looking ahead, the resources sector continues to go from strength to strength. Exploration expenditure is forecast to increase during 2021 and the value of committed mining projects, in Australia alone, is the highest in a decade with many more feasibility stage projects in the pipeline. Perenti has a strong balance sheet, a highly experienced team with a track record of delivering excellence across our businesses. The significant investments we have made in our people, our business structure and our systems will ensure we continue to be well positioned to capitalise on the expected resources sector growth as we deliver against our 2025 strategy.”

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Perenti secures A$200 million Agnew underground mining contract extension

Perenti is pleased to announce its subsidiary, leading hard-rock underground miner Barminco, has been awarded a contract extension at Gold Fields’ Agnew Gold Mine in Leinster, Western Australia. The extension is valued at over A$200 million and is for full underground mining services, driven by an increase in development and production physicals at the mine. Barminco has been successfully operating at Agnew since 2010.

Perenti Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mark Norwell said: “We are delighted to be extending our relationship with our long-standing client, Gold Fields.

“Part of our 2025 group strategy is to organically grow this part of our business. The recent achievements of Barminco in this regard are a result of the strong relationships we share with our clients and the value we create for them through our world class underground mining capabilities.”

Perenti Mining Chief Executive Officer Paul Muller said: “We have been providing safe and efficient underground mining services at Agnew for more than 10 years and we are very pleased to be supporting Gold Fields with their increased development and production requirements.  This extension will take our current term out to December 2023.”

Gold Fields’ Agnew Gold Mine located close to Leinster in Western Australia.