A message from your leaders, Jul '22

Welcome to July’s edition of our Mining Minerals news. We’re going to give the next edition of our newsletter a refresh, with a new name as we’ve now brought all major projects together across Australia under one banner. We welcome any suggestions, let’s be creative with the new name, otherwise stay tuned for some of our creative genius coming your way next month!

We understand a lot of people are asking what is in the pipeline with certain projects closing in on completion. We can reassure you that we are very active with a lot of tendering, and we are in discussion with a key customer regarding a potential new project that will commence soon. Hopefully we will be releasing information shortly.

A lot of work has been going on in the background to ensure we are relocating available resources from one project to another and making sure we keep all our resources gainfully employed. Our intention is to retain resources and relocate from one project to another, as you all understand this is all down to timing. In respect of our ongoing program of works if you are unsure, or thinking of moving elsewhere, please have a discussion with your supervisor in regards to upcoming projects and opportunities before making a decision.

People are the core of our business and our most prized asset, retaining our people who have the alignment to our values is what makes the difference and allows Monadelphous to deliver on our promises to all our key customers and secure repeat projects.

We are very pleased to advise that our safety performance has been improved again this year to a  world-class, 1.83 total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR), this is  not something that is earned by luck, it is because of the focus and dedication of you all, and demonstrates that The Safe Way is the Only Way is not just a slogan but engrained in our operations. Saying this, we still have to constantly be vigilant and relentless in our strive for zero harm. Hand injuries are our number one issue, too many hand incidents are still occurring with 4 of our 5 recordable incidents hand injuries which could have very easily been avoided. At times it often comes down to a level of complacency.

We’ll also soon be welcoming three new trainees onto the HSE Trainee program, we’ve had some great interest to date from people keen to join our program and make a transition from their trade background into HSE. Monadelphous has run this program for several years in our drive forward to supporting and continuing to uphold our world class safety performance. Having experienced trade people transitioning into safety brings a level of experience that harnesses an understanding of the risk and hazards we face doing our works that resonates with the workforce. If you have a keen interest in safety and want to transition into a new role regardless of age or experience it’s not too late to apply, check out the details within Bevan Palmer’s story on his move from the tools into safety.

A quick whip around the projects, celebrating some recent achievements and some big ones upcoming – August is forecasted to be busy:

• The final Tom Price shutdown is deep in preparation and ready to hit the ground running on in August. Our work with Rio Tinto across their Tom Price operations included two major shutdowns and a series of minor shut works. Well done to the Western Turner Syncline (WTS) team on completing the June shut ahead of schedule
• Work at Gudai-Darri has been exceptional and the team should be proud of what we achieved supporting Rio to deliver their most technologically advanced mine
• After spending 12 additional months on site at South Flank on the Inflow work area post our initial contract, our final major shutdown on the schedule is currently nearing completion with most of the scope completed successfully and ahead of programme. The remaining post shut works will see us wrap up at the end of August. The team is performing at an outstanding level
• The Tronox team in Broken Hill are getting ready to kick off the final major shutdown of the project in August. It’s been a difficult project, but it’s been safe and the team on site have done an incredible job overcoming all the challenges thrown their way, including the lack of accommodation in the town
• Train 2 at the Kemerton Lithium Plant (KLP) in the south west of WA is close to completion with final E&I commissioning to be completed
• Also, in the south west, we’re getting ready to mobilise to our newest works at Talison Lithium’s Greenbushes to undertake SMPE&I works on the Mine Services Area (MSA)
• The Port Availability Improvement Project (PAIP) contract is finally complete with 31 shutdowns completed successfully!

We’d like to make a special mention to the recruitment team, in preparation for the South Flank shutdown. The team on site grew from about 40 to 165 people, with the recruitment team having one of their largest single days of mobilisations ever to achieve this! Thank you!

Special message from Brett regarding eastern states operations

We’ve recently merged our projects teams across Australia together under a ‘national projects’ structure. What this means is that we’ll manage our major projects with a holistic national approach. SCM-21 was the test case for this delivery model, and through the hard work and coordination of the team as a whole, the Project was a huge success.

I’ve started spending extra time in Brisbane, my intention is to spend one week per month on the east getting to know the team better, understand the operations in more detail and enable us all to work together cohesively without the divide of state borders.

We have some challenges as there have been few opportunities in QLD and NSW that suit our core capability, there’s been a lot of change and that can be unsettling for people. The focus is on retaining capability, winning the right work that is aligned to our strengths and our core delivery model. Sometimes that means we need to be patient to maximise our strategy, however we have seen a promising increase in tendering opportunities in the last month.

This national approach opens more opportunities to everyone to have exposure and work on projects across the country. In time I’m confident that we can all come together to successfully win the right work and deliver successfully in alignment with our strengths.

Stay safe. Look out for each other.

Paul and Brett