Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (MMA) has been awarded a three-year contract by the Chevron-operated (NYSE:CVX) Gorgon project, commencing in the second quarter of FY11. The contract involves the provision of a towing tug, a landing craft (LCT) and a barge suitably modified to transport fuel from mainland Australia to Barrow Island in support of the Gorgon project.

Eventhough manual tracking (spreadsheet tracking)of material is better than having no material tracking at all. Yet when it is looked at against barcode/RFID tracking of material, it loses its gleam because the latter is better than it in almost every way. Here are some of the vast advantages associated with barcode/RFID material tracking, when looked at against manual (spreadsheet) material tracking:

Its Effective: As long as the computer and IT infratructre is working properly you will have access to your Material Tracking system. Imagine a system working for you 24/7 and 365 days a year.

Its convenient: Barcode/RFID material tracking systems tend to work automatically. This means that there is less requirement for human intervention.

Return on Investment (ROI): In the short term, barcode/RFID tracking of material may call for hefty investment in the equipment required to make it a possibility. But in the long term, the fact that it doesn’t need to be baby-sat all the time, combined with its far superior effectiveness, makes it a far more cost effective approach to material tracking than the manual system.

Irrespective of the value of the material, Barcode/RFID material Management leads to material Tracking efficiency for a project.

BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, came to an agreement with Labor prior to the election that replaced Kevin Rudd’s resources super profits tax with the MRRT. Mr Kloppers believed that agreement should still remain intact and shouldnot change. He said, “My only view is in the same way we deal with our customers, anyone we sell product to.”

“Our basic value proposition to our customers is that if you bought it from us at a given price, we are going to deliver it to you at that price and I think the discussions we had with the government before the election fall into exactly that category. We agreed to something. Companies don’t like voluntarily paying more tax, we agreed to something and our intention would be to stick to it.”

For more info please visit http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/bhp-boss-warns-government-not-to-alter-mining-tax/story-e6frg9df-1225923992799

The second-largest U.S. energy producer and CNPC intend to collaborate on the development of gas fields in the Carnarvon Basin off northwest Australia and exploration in China, Gareth Johnstone, a spokesman for Chevron in Singapore, said in an e- mail today. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing late yesterday, he said.

Wheatstone is among A$200 billion ($188 billion) of planned LNG developments in Australia targeting Asian demand for cleaner-burning alternatives to coal, according to figures this month from the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association. The biggest of the ventures is Chevron’s A$43 billion Gorgon project.

Wheatstone may have as many as six processing units and produce as much as 25 million metric tons of the fuel a year, Chevron said in July. Chevron aims to decide whether to proceed with Wheatstone in the middle of 2011, after gaining environmental approval, a development timeline shows.

for more information please visit

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-15/chevron-china-national-sign-australian-gas-agreement.html

Gorgon Project, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Southern Seawater , Desalination Plant, CITIC Pacific Mining Sino Iron project, Karara Iron Ore Project, North Rankin Redevelopment (NR2), Worsley Alumina Efficiency and Growth Project

Gorgon Project

Resources

Project Owner :   Gorgon Venture
Constructor :  KJVG and GUJV

Size: 43 Billion

The Gorgon Project proposes to build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production facility on Barrow Island, 70kms off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia. It will be one of Australia’s single biggest developments with an estimated resource base of more than 40 trillion cubic feet of gas and a nominal development life of around 60 years.

Fiona Stanley Hospital

Resources

Project Owner: Health Department
Constructor: Brookfield Multiplex FSH Contractor Pty Ltd

Size: 1.76 Billion

The $1.76 billion Fiona Stanely 643-bed hospital is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken by the Western Australian Government. It will be the major tertiary health facility in the south metropolitan area. It will offer first-rate healthcare services to communities in the south of Perth and across the state and provide high level medical and teaching facilities.

Southern Seawater Desalination Plant

Infrastructure

Project Owner:   Water Corporation
Constructor:  TBA – November 2008

Size: 955 million

The $955 million Southern Seawater Desalination plant,  to be built near Binningup in the shire of Harvey, is planned to produce 45 gigalitres of water per year, with the potential to increase to 100 gigalitres. Construction is expected to start in 2009 and be completed in 2011.

CITIC Pacific Mining Sino Iron project

Resources

Project Owner:  CITIC Pacific Limited
Constructor:  China Metallurgical Group Corporation and others

Size: 3.5 Billion

CITIC Pacific’s Sino Iron Project is a world class, large-scale magnetite iron ore project located at Cape Preston, 100km south west of Karratha, in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. It is the largest planned magnetite project in Australia.

Karara Iron Ore Project

Resources

Project Owner :   50:50 JV Gindalbie Ltd and AnSteel.
Constructor :

Size: 1.8 Billion

Located 225km east of Geraldton the A$1.8 billion Karara Iron Ore Project is being development  through a 50:50 Joint Venture between Gindalbie Metals Limited and Chinese steel producer, Anshan Iron & Steel (AnSteel).

North Rankin Redevelopment (NR2)

Resources

Project Manager :   Woodside
Project Owner :  North West Shelf Venture
Constructor :

Size: 5 Billion

The North Rankin 2 Project will recover remaining low pressure gas from the North Rankin and Perseus gas fields.The project will include the installation of a second platform (North Rankin B) . The North Rankin B platform will be connected by a 100 metre bridge to the existing North Rankin A platform.

Worsley Alumina Efficiency and Growth Project

Resources

Project Manager :   Bechtel Australia Pty Ltd
Project Owner :  Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd (WAPL)
Constructor :  Bechtel Australia Pty Ltd

Size: 2.5 Billion

The A$2.5 billion Worsley Efficiency and Growth Project is to be built for Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd and will expand the plant to a maximum capacity of approximately 4.6 Mtpa. Project Execution was announced on 1 May 2008.

please see attached Click Here to download the template letter of Complaint Re Mining Super Profit Tax

Excerpt from the letter

I am writing to ask that the government reconsider its mining ‘super tax’.
Small to mid-sized businesses such as mine, which supports the mining sector would not only be adversely affected but effectively this tax could see such businesses close down entirely.

This tax would undermine the strong economic foundation of this country and could represent a damaging turning point in the face of the world global financial crisis.

The resource industry is the engine room of the Australian economy and in Western Australia mining is its life-blood with the resource sector contributing billions in investment dollar revenue and thousands of jobs. The announcement of the super-tax has already created uncertainty in the sector with Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ore expansion plans being reconsidered.

The effective tax rate for mining giants such as BHP Billiton would increase upto 57% in Australia compared to rates of 23% in Canada and 27-38% in Brazil. If the super tax goes ahead, our mining industry will be by far the highest taxed in the world.

If the tax is passed in its current form Australia will lose its competitive advantage in the world stage and this will enable Canada and other countries to take investment away from Australia. And where the investment goes, the projects go and the jobs go too.

I find it hard to understand how the Federal Government can put forward such a proposal having not considered the adverse financial and economic implications such a move would have. I hope that the government will listen to the voice of the people and scrap this outrageous proposal before more damaged is done.

Yours sincerely,
Kashif Saleem

Saleem Technologies has been awarded $70,400 of COMET grant funding, to help it in the development of Track’em, a material tracking and management system.

The Track’em material tracking and material management system uses mobile computers, GPS and RFID or barcodes to manage and track building materials and equipment.

According to Kashif Saleem (CEO and Inventor of Track’em), the Track’em system can help project developers finish construction projects on time and within budget.