By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE--Engineering firm Calibre Group Ltd. (CGH.AU) has
received a 150 million Australian dollar (US$157.7 million) work
order to expand the life and output capacity at one of Rio Tinto
PLC's (RIO) iron ore mines in Western Australia state, the company
said in a release Tuesday.
Calibre said it will provide engineering, procurement,
construction and maintenance services at the Yandicoogina mine,
where Rio Tinto is seeking to continue mining through 2021 and
expand production capacity to 56 million metric tons a year from 53
million tons.
The US$1.7 billion project is expected to be completed in the
first half of 2015. Calibre said at the peak of construction it
will need about 800 workers, including 200 employees from
Calibre.
The service order had been listed as pending in the company's
order book ahead of its listing on the Australian exchange earlier
this month following a A$75 million initial public offering.
Calibre recently laid off 50 workers and redeployed 30 who were
linked to a rail project for BHP Billiton (BHP) as the mining
company has sought to cut costs at its own iron ore operations in
Australia.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires