There has been such extensive growth in engineering and project
management company Senet’s involvement in West Africa that it
has opened an additional office in Guinea and is currently
registering a company in Burkina Faso.
“We believe that we are pioneers in West Africa, having been
involved there for at least twelve years,” says marketing
director Paul Emerson.
Senet is currently functioning as engineer and project manager to
several key projects locally, as well as in Guinea, Mauritania and
Burkina Faso.
Senet is also closing in on completion of the Lefa 8 MTPA CIL gold
project in Guinea. The project entailed the relocation and
recommissioning of an old gold process plant in Borneo, as well as
thsupplier of sand drying equipment in sae logistics of shipping the disassembled plant to the site in
Guinea.
It included the design, pro- curement and construction associ-ated
with installation, refurbishment and expansion of the relocated
plant.
This project, undertaken for British company Crew Holdings, has
been in progress for almost two years and has a value of about
$80-million.
Still in Guinea, Senet was awarded a contract for the Kasmall granite quarry crushing equipment pricemsar port
and materials-han-dling facility by Global Alumina, which is a
lump-sum turnkey pro-ject worth in the region $300-million.
The project is set to be completed in a two-and-a-half-year period
and has been in progress for the last six months. The scope of work
includes construction of a jetty and a quay and all the
materials-handling and storage facilities necessary for the import
of raw materials and the export of astone crusher used salelumina for the inland
refinery.
At present, Senet is also involved in a further two gold-process
plant projects in Africa. One in Mauritania – the Tasiast
1,2-million-ton-a-year CIL gold project – is worth
$35-million for Spanish mining group Rio Narcea.
The second is the Taparko 1,2-mil- lion-ton-a-year CIL gold plant
in Burkina Faso for Canadian company High River Gold. The project
is worth about $26-mil- lion. Looking to Botswana, artificial sand making process for mba projecta Senet and RSV
joint venture has completed the basic engineering and definitive
cost estimate on the Dukwe copper project for Messina Copper. Senet
also has extensive capabilities in heap-leach technology for copper
and gold plants.
“Senet is currently involved in test work on three other
projects,” says commercial director John Naismith. In
addition to the testwork, Senet is working on two bankable
feasibility studiesindian stone powder making equipment supplier.
One for UK-based company Uranium, for the Trekkopje uranium project
in Namibia and, lastly, for the Passendro gold project for Axmin in
the Central African Republic.
Naismith explains that Senet’s success in Africa, and
particularly West Africa, is due to the fact that it has handled
the civil works and multidisciplinary erection and installation for
the African projects in-house.
Senet sometimes uses smaller local contractors for regional
knowledge, but bolsters them with skilled personnel and
equipment.
Raw material and equipment for the projects in Africa are generally
sourced in South Africa, although Senet is now drawing from the
world market to ensure technical and commercial competi-
tiveness.
Owing to rising steel prices, Naismith adds that it is necessary to
invest in other (foreign) options for steel works in order to
remain competitive.
With regard to labour for the respective projects, Senet endeavours
to “maximise the labour force from the local people, as far
as possible”, comments Naismith.
Artisan-level personnel are sourced from a variety of inter-
national locations.
Senet itself is currently undergoing a restructuring with regard to
its management in an effort to maximise the expertise and skills of
its employees.
This has arisen, for some part, as a result of the current shortage
of engineering resources in South Africa.
The midlevel management is the focus for expansion through both
in-house promotion and external recruitment.
The focus for the future will be controlled and sustained growth.