:: Big Contract for Ausenco-Bateman

A joint venture between Australia's Ausenco and South African based engineers Bateman Minerals and Metals has been awarded the engineering and construction contract for Equinox Minerals' $US483 million Lumwana copper project in Zambia.

Ausenco and Bateman will now complete the detailed engineering designs for Lumwana and then submit a contract to Equinox by the end of the current quarter. The final contract is expected to be signed in the second quarter of 2006.

Another Ausenco-Bateman joint venture was recently awarded the 2005 Engineering Excellence Award for its work at Oxiana's Sepon copper-gold project in Laos.

Lumwana will produce 188,000 tonnes of copper per annum for the first five years of the project, with production falling to around 133,000tpa for the remaining 12 years.