Australian engineering, project delivery and sciences firm, Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has won the Export Award-Corporate as part of the Australia Latin America Awards.
Mr Jose Blanco, Chairman of the Australia-Latin America Business Council, said that SKM had demonstrated a strong commitment to developing not only its export activities from Australia to South America, but also in promoting the transfer of South American skills to Australia and beyond.
SKM General Manager, Resources, Mark Read, said that the firm’s expansion into South America was integral to the long-term growth of its mining business and associated activities.
“While currently our activities in South America are focused on the mining sector, we are also offering services in water and environment and are looking to expand our power and industry capabilities in the region,” Read said.
“The base metals and underground mining skills in our Chilean office are also being offered to clients in Australia and around the world, adding significantly to the suite of capabilities available to our global clients.”
While utilising the Santiago office as SKM’s regional base, the firm’s activities have also expanded to Peru, with a pre-feasibility study for an iron ore mine for Australian-based Strike Resources.
Establishing the Chilean office as a Centre of Expertise in Base Metals and Underground Mining, SKM has also been able to utilise these skills in winning a significant role in the current phase of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam Expansion Project in South Australia and in providing detailed engineering for the Rapid Growth (Phase 4) Project which SKM is undertaking in Western Australia for BHP Billiton Iron Ore as part of the Mine and Port Developments Joint Venture with Fluor.