A few years back it seemed just about every parent whose child showed a bit of aptitude for maths and science was suggesting they pursue a career in engineering.
The engineering degree is a tough one. The class contact hours are much greater than many others. Then there are the parties. It is not uncommon for the average, run-of-the-mill engineering get together to set all manner of beer consumption records.
The reason for the push towards such a demanding degree was obvious. Engineers were among those most in demand as miners large and small hit the go button on a number of ambitious projects to meet rapacious demand.
Advancement in the industry was brisk too. It was not uncommon for engineers just a year or two out of university to be filling roles that would normally have gone to somebody with a decade or more experience.
Then the crash came.
It was something of a rude shock for a generation of engineers that had known nothing but good times.
It was possibly even more of a shock for those just completing their degrees and discovering the jobs had all but dried up.
All those hard hours of classwork and study and debauchery seemed wasted. Well, maybe the classwork and study.
It seems, however, that the good times may be starting to return.
In some ways the news over the past couple of months of big money starting to flow back into the sector has helped.
Pilbara Minerals raised $100 million, Talisman Mining locked down about $17 million and Panoramic got its hands on nearly $11 million, among others.
Money flowing in means miners will likely be building again and that is good news for the engineering industry.
In an eight-line note Lycopodium set the tone with a guidance update saying it expects an after-tax operating profit of at least $3 million on revenue of $126 million. It had been expecting a net after-tax profit of $550,000 on revenue of $61.1 million.
Lycopodium managing director Peter De Leo told MiningMonthly.com that the continued strength in the gold price had changed the outlook somewhat.
“Another feature of a couple of years now is that project funding has been hard to come by,” he said.
“But now we’re starting to see some good signs.”
RCR Engineering winning a couple of contracts worth a combined $108 million has also been encouraging, especially considering one is for MMG’s Dugald River zinc operation.
About seven years ago the biggest problem facing the project was the lack of power in north Queensland and engineers were trying to work out how big a processing plant they could build.
Then demand for zinc fell away and the project was shelved.
However, it is back on the drawing board and RCR has been drafted in to build a processing plant at the project.
That $73 million job is subject to MMG finalising financing for that project though.
The other win was a contract with Rio Tinto for the construction and commissioning of Rio Tinto’s Cape Lambert Power Station, worth about $35 million.
Forge Engineering, which was put into liquidation in 2014, had originally been slated to build that power plant.
RCR managing director and CEO Dr Paul Dalgleish said the company would use its turnkey capability in the resources and energy sectors and its integrated engineering and construction approach on these contracts.
“The project for MMG builds on our position as a leader in the construction of major minerals processing plants,” he said.
“The Cape Lambert project is the first win of an improving pipeline of opportunities that we are seeing in the power generation sector.
“We are currently preferred on a number of other large power projects including gas and solar power stations that are under negotiation.”
