Wagners wins Adani project work

TOOWOOMBA firm Wagners has won a big contract to supply tonnes of rock and other material to the Adani coal mine in the north Galilee Basin

CONSTRUCTION firm Wagners has secured a $35 million contract to help build Adani’s Carmichael coal mine potentially putting it in the sights of radical environmentalists protesting against the project.

Wagners will operate the South Back Creek Quarry near Clermont supplying building material for the Carmichael mine and rail project. The mine will be connected to the Abbot Point port by a 200 km narrow gauge rail line.

The Wagners project, which will create about 40 jobs, is expected to raise the ire of environmentalists who have been pressuring businesses not to undertake work for the Indian mining and energy giant. Wagners director John Wagner yesterday said environmentalists had a right to protest as long as they did not interfere with the right of others. He declined to comment on possible action against the Toowoomba-based company.

Wagners said the Adani work, which will be undertaken in two stages, will require the production of up to 1.5 million tonnes of quarry material for roads, camps, pads. dams and mine civil works over a period of up to five years.

The Adani contract comes at an opportune time for Wagners which  announced in August that annual profit slumped 49 per cent due to a sluggish construction market and the effect of an ongoing price dispute with its biggest cement customer Boral.

Carmichael project director David Boshoff said the company was delivering on its promises of jobs and work packages for regional Queensland.

“It’s great to see our commitments on jobs and contracts for regional Queensland now coming to life, and we are so pleased that the benefits are being spread far and wide across regional Queensland, now to Toowoomba,” Mr Boshoff said.

“This contract means Toowoomba is the latest regional town to get a piece of the Carmichael pie, with more jobs expected to be generated to deliver and operate the quarry.”

He said more than $500 million in contracts had now been awarded for the project

“The operations of the rail camps will be based in Collinsville, earthworks and civil works are coming from Townsville and Rockhampton, fuel supply is from Townsville, telecommunications is from Mackay, rail track laying and rail camp construction is from Rockhampton and many other regional businesses and locations across regional Queensland are also getting involved,” he said.

Wagners said work on the quarry site will start immediately with the haulage of about 735,000 tonnes of quarry material over a 15 month period. Wagners shares closed steady at $2.08.