Contract lifts NRW fortunes | The West Australian

Peter WilliamsThe West Australian Battered contractor NRW Holdings has been given a boost by securing a $40 million contract at a Queensland coal mine that is set to reopen this year. NRW

subsidiary Action Drill & Blast has been chosen to resume work at the Isaac Plains mine in the Bowen Basin that stopped when the operation was mothballed by former owners in 2014. NRW

last night said ADB had reached an in-principle agreement with Golding Contractors for the three-year drill and blast job. “ADB is currently operating on site under agreed terms pending

finalisation of the contract details,” NRW said. The work is smaller in scope than ADB’s previous blasting-only contract, worth $100 million over three years when awarded in 2012. Like most

mining contractors, NRW has suffered lean times as WA’s resources construction boom ended and commodity prices slumped. The Belmont-based contractor also endured a financially crippling

payment dispute with Roy Hill project manager Samsung C&T which ended with a $30 million settlement in NRW’s favour. The amount was considerably smaller than NRW had claimed for its work

on the iron ore project’s rail earthworks. The contractor posted a $230 million loss for fiscal 2015, including $157 million in impairments. NRW’s share price yesterday closed down 0.5¢, or

9 per cent, to an equal all-time low 4.8¢. The reopening of Isaac Plains by new owner Stanmore Coal has been a ray of light in Queensland for the depressed coal industry. Stanmore in

December awarded the mining services and coal preparation contract to restart the coking coal mine to Golding, a private Queensland contractor. The Australian Securities Exchange-listed

miner famously bought the mine last year for just $1. Former Japanese joint owner Sumitomo had paid $430 million in 2011 for a 50 per cent stake in Isaac Plains from WA entrepreneur Tony

Poli’s Aquila Resources. The collapse in coal prices led Sumitomo and Brazilian giant Vale to close the mine in September 2014. GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR INBOX. Sign up

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