Ausenco completes North Mara Gold Project, Tanzania.

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23 September, 2002


Project facts:

  • Officially opened 16 September 02
  • Lump Sum Contract
  • Contract value USD$28.3 million
  • 2 Mtpa gold processing facility and associated infrastructure
  • Global procurement and challenging logistics
  • Employed 90% local labour
  • Completed 7 weeks ahead of schedule and on budget
  • 'among the most modern, high technology plants yet constructed in Africa' ……. Geoff Stewart, Managing Director, East Africa Gold Mines.

The North Mara Gold Mine was officially opened on 16 September 2002 by the Tanzanian President and officials from both Tanzania and Australia. The project is owned and operated by Afrika Mashariki Gold Mines Limited (AMGM), and is located in the Mara region in remote North-East Tanzania, East Africa.

Ausenco Limited completed the USD$28.3 million project on a Lump Sum Turnkey basis, and the project scope included complete engineering design, procurement, freight, construction, commissioning and performance testing of the gold processing facility, a 12MW power station and water supply from the nearby Mara River for the 2.0 Mtpa gold project.

Ausenco was awarded the contract in August 2001. Practical completion was achieved within 49 weeks (7 weeks earlier than scheduled), and plant process performance trials were officially passed on 14 September, 2 days before the official opening of the mine.

Equipment for the project was sourced globally from over 13 countries worldwide and shipped to the Port of Mombassa in Kenya. The logistics chain then included a 1,600km road convoy to the North Mara site. The over weight and over width components were shipped by the inland Kenyan port of Kisumu, using roll-on-roll off barges 180km over Lake Victoria to the port of Musoma in Tanzania, and finally a 90km road trip to the North Mara site via the narrow dirt roads of rural Tanzania.

The site workforce at North Mara peaked at in excess of 700 with approximately 90% of these being local Tanzanian workers. Ausenco managed all siteworks contracts with contractors being sourced from Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Australia.



For media & investor enquiries & questions contact


Craig Allen, Chief Financial Officer on 61 7 3112 8200
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For business development enquiries contact


Stuart Ratcliffe, General Manager Business Development on 61 8 9223 1900
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Ausenco Limited, provides multi-disciplined engineering, procurement, project and construction management services to the mining, minerals and metal processing industry. The company participates in all phases of a project’s progression, from project scoping studies, process option/technical review assessments, feasibility studies utilised for project financing, through to project design, construction and commissioning. Ausenco’s group of companies also services companies through their operation and maintenance division, supplying key asset management and operational support. These services are applied to projects in a broad range of processing areas, both nationally and internationally.

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