First Quantum Minerals has awarded SciDev a $9.5 million contract for services at the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia.
Under the three-year contract, SciDev will supply MaxiFlox chemistry and ongoing consulting services to the site.
SciDev specialises in environmental solutions focussed on water-intensive industries and its MaxiFlox chemistry products will be used to treat wastewater across the site.
“The contract with Ravensthorpe follows an extensive onsite testing period where we demonstrated the superior operational efficiency and productivity benefits of MaxiFlox,” SciDev chief executive officer Seán Halpin said.
“Our technical expertise and bespoke chemical solutions are delivering increased market share across the resource sector which is reflected in over $37 million of new contract value secured in the past two months.”
The contract is expected to generate approximately $9.5 million in sales over the three-year period.
“We remain activity engaged with a number of international and domestic resource clients and we expect the sector to deliver future growth opportunities for SciDev in the 2023 financial year and beyond,” Halpin said.
The Ravensthorpe mine is 70 per cent owned by First Quantum Minerals and 30 per cent owned by Korean steel maker POSCO.
In January of 2023, the mine switched to wind power in an effort to lower carbon emissions.
First Quantum Minerals’ Perth-based regional manager of projects and operations Gavin Ashley described Ravensthorpe as a prime location for wind energy.
“We’re not connected to the grid,” he said. “The way we produce power is from waste heat in steam turbines as we burn sulphur to generate the sulphuric acid, which we use in the nickel process.
“We also have stand-by diesel generators and recently we’ve identified that we’re short of power and we’re using our diesel generators a lot more, so that’s triggered this motivation to look at how we can offset that.”