Suppliers News (May 14, 2007)

Finning sells $100M in trucks

Finning International (FTT-T, FINGF-O)’s Canadian division has sold 19 new Caterpillar 797B mining trucks for more than $100 million.

Albian Sands Energy bought the heavy machinery for work in the Alberta oilsands.

“The Alberta oilsands continues to be an exceptional growth opportunity for Finning,” says Doug Whitehead, president and CEO of Finning International.

Of the nineteen 400-tonne trucks, 16 will haul ore at the new Jackpine mine, part of Albian Sands Expansion 1 — a 100,000-barrel-a-day expansion of mining and extraction activity. The other three trucks are being added to Albian Sands’ fleet at the Muskeg River mine.

The trucks for Jackpine should start arriving later this year and throughout 2008; those for Muskeg River are already on-site. Jackpine and Muskeg River are both located in the Fort McMurray area of Alberta.

Albian Sands produces about 155,000 barrels of bitumen (a mixture of sand and oil) per day. Startup of the first phase of the Albian Sands expansion is expected in 2009.

Albian Sands Energy operates Muskeg River and will operate Jackpine on behalf of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, a joint venture among Shell Canada, 60%; Chevron Canada, 20%; and Western Oil Sands (WTO-T, WTOIF-O), 20%.

Finning International is the world’s largest Caterpillar equipment dealer.

Terex O&K launches two excavators

German firm Terex O&K recently unveiled two new hydraulic excavators at the Bauma Fair in Munich, Germany.

The new models, RH 70 and RH 340-B, add to the company’s excavator line that ranges in operating weight from 100 to 1,000 tonnes.

The RH 70 is a 122-tonne, heavy backhoe excavator powered by a Caterpillar C18 engine. It has 8 cubic metres of bucket capacity — one-third more than the next one down the Terex line — in combination with a 7.8-metre monoboom and a 3.3-metre stick.

The RH 70 has electric-over-hydraulic controls and offers a large operator cab, including a control panel specifically designed for use in mining. Other features are a triple-race swing-roller bearing with internal lube lines, as well as a fully independent oil cooling system.

Meanwhile, the original RH 340 was launched at the same show in 2004 and since then, Terex O&K customers have purchased about one of those 500-tonne shovels every month for the last three years. The company says RH 340s are now at work in all major mining markets.

The new RH340-B excavator is powered by two Caterpillar 3512C engines, but offers an option of two Cummins QSK 45s, as well. Both engine sets deliver about 3,000 horsepower. The hydraulic system now has greater capacity in its main pumps, delivering oil flow of 1,300 litres per minute over each of the four valve blocks.

Of note, the majority of the RH 340s in the Americas and South Africa use the front-shovel configuration, whereas the backhoe models are dominant in Australia and Indonesia.

Bauma is held each April in Munich and is the largest construction and mining trade show in the world.

Terex had 2006 sales of roughly US$7.6 billion.

SGS opens lab in India

Analytical laboratory SGS Minerals Services has opened a lab in Chennai, India, to meet the needs of mineral exploration in that country.

The Chennai geochemical laboratory is equipped with several types of spectroscopy, including inductively coupled plasma mass (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission (ICP-OES), and atomic absorption (AAS). The facility has a multi-pour fire assay furnace for precious metal analysis.

A high-volume sample preparation facility is next door.

The Chennai lab joins the eight existing facilities in India.

SGS has 40 commercial geochemical labs around the world. With over 48,000 employees, SGS operates a network of 1,000 offices and labs.

Major gets Indonesian extension

Moncton, N.B.-based Major Drilling Group International (MDI-T, MJDLF-O) says that its subsidiary, P.T. Pontil Indonesia, was awarded a 3-year extension to its contract to conduct surface and underground exploration drilling at P.T. Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg copper-gold mine in West Papua.

PT Pontil’s existing contract was set to expire on Jan. 31, 2008. The extension will now see the contract end on Jan. 31, 2011.

Major has drilled more than 120,000 metres during each of the previous four years at Grasberg. That level of drilling is likely to continue.

Major’s Indonesian operations are operated from Major Drilling’s office in Brisbane, Australia.

PT Pontil is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, with a satellite office at Grasberg.

Fasken Martineau named top mining law firm, again

For the third straight year, Montreal-based Fasken Martineau DuMoulin was named the world’s top mining law firm in a poll of general counsel and private practice professionals conducted by Who’s Who Legal, a publication of London-based Law Business Research.

Fasken Martineau received the highest marks from among more than 200,000 nominations across 27 areas of legal practice submitted to the publication.

“We are gratified to know that general counsel and our peers continue to recognize the talent of Fasken Martineau’s global mining group,” said David Corbett, managing partner of Fasken Martineau, in a release.

In particular, Who’s Who Legal highlighted Fasken Martineau’s financing advice to the mining industry.

The firm’s mining group worked on a number of transactions including: SXR Uranium One (SXR-T, SXRFF-O, SXR-J) in its $6-billion takeover of UrAsia Energy; First Uranium’s (FIU-T, FURAF-O) $233-million initial public offering; First Quantum Minerals’ (FM-T, FQVLF-O, FQM-L) $275-million acquisition of Adastra Minerals; and Gammon Lake Resources (GAM-T, GRS-X) in its plan to create a C$1.6-billion company with Mexgold Resources.

Of note, five Fasken Martineau lawyers were recognized for their contributions to mining. They are Michael Bourassa, Albert Gourley Charles Higgins, David Searle and John Turner. Bourassa and Turner were also acknowledged as among the most highly regarded individuals in their field in the annual publication The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.

The Who’s Who Legal poll was conducted over six months by independent researchers.

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin is an international business law firm with more than 640 lawyers. The firm has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City, as well as in London, Johannesburg and New York.

Washington Group gets BHP’s Pinto Valley contract

Boise, Idaho-based engineering firm and contract miner Washington Group International (WNG-N) has been chosen by BHP Copper, an indirectly held subsidiary of BHP Billiton (BHP-N, BHP-L), to restart copper mining at the Pinto Valley Mine near Globe, Ariz., about 110 km east of Phoenix.

Under a 5-year, $310-million contract, Washington Group will supply the mining equipment and conduct drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling of ore and waste. The contract calls for mining roughly 33 million short tons per year. Washington Group will also maintain the equipment and facilities at Pinto Valley. Contract mining should start in June.

“We look forward to supporting BHP Copper in bringing Pinto Valley back into production and significantly advancing our business interests in the region,” says Robert Zaist, president of Washington Group’s mining business unit, based in Denver, Colo.

Washington Group currently contract mines coal, zinc, silver, copper, gold, lead, bauxite, and phosphate at operations in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe.

Washington Group International posted about $3 billion in revenue in 2006, and has roughly 25,000 employees at operations around the world.