Engenium, a project engineering firm, will partner with South African-based ULS Mineral Resource Projects with the aim of providing a global front to help Perth-based, ASX-listed resource companies establish operations in Africa.

Engenium supports a number of African studies for Australian companies and, when combined with ULS’s experience in African project execution, the partnership hopes to decrease the risks of delivering complex projects in Africa’s remote and challenging environments.

Engenium managing director Wayne Peel said it was challenging to establish a mine in Africa due to logistical, political and socio-economic factors, and this partnership would help reduce the risk.

“By offering this kind of partnership to Australian resource companies, we aim to make the transition easier for them,” Peel said in a statement Wednesday.

“Engenium has partnered with an established company, located in an area that has seen significant mining interest and activity in recent years. ULS have existing relationships with local contractors, suppliers, financial, legal institutions and government ministries.”

“It would take Engenium a long time to establish these relationships if we were to go it alone,” Peel added.

ULS has an extensive project footprint in Africa, having successfully undertaken several hundred projects in more than 20 African countries in the mining, processing, industrial and civil infrastructure sectors.

In addition, Engenium has experience in carrying out studies in a number of African countries over the past year including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Nigeria.