Construction

Leighton Holdings Ltd. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Thiess Pty. Ltd., an Australian contracting and engineering company, has been awarded a A$150 million contract from Montreal-based Alcan Inc. The agreement is for site construction work on the A$2 billion expansion of Alcan’s Gove alumina refinery in the Northern Territory’s East Arnhem Land. Thiess will be responsible for the structural, mechanical and piping installation for the process facilities portion of the third-stage expansion.

Calgary-based Naanovo Energy Inc., a global waste-to-energy technology company that specializes in municipal solid waste and biomass incineration technologies, as well as waste-heat recovery technologies that convert waste-heat energy from various sources into electricity, plans to build a waste recycling plant in Thanh Hoa. The facility will process 360 tonnes of waste per day producing 12MW of electricity per hour.

Sumitomo Forestry Company, a Japanese builder of wood homes, is using hard maple from Quebec for the floors, doors, stairways and window sills of its ‘Super Natural-Maple’ homes. The homes went on sale at the end of last month and only 300 will be built. Prices start at C$6,250 per m2.

Hitachi of Japan has completed a 495 megawatt power plant at Epcor’s Genesee facility located 80km southwest of Edmonton. The coal-fired plant uses supercritical steam pressure to achieve low CO2 and SOX emissions. The C$455 million project was Hitachi’s first of that type outside Japan.

Toronto-based HMZ Metals Inc. announced the commencement of the Hechi copper smelter expansion in China. The expansion program is designed to double smelter capacity to 10,000 tonnes of blister copper annually, increase operating efficiencies and enhance the smelter’s environmental performance. The copper smelter expansion is a two-phase program. Phase One, with an estimated cost of US$900,000 consists of the construction of an oxygen plant and the addition of a second blast furnace. Phase Two consists of the construction of a new sulphuric acid plant at a projected cost of US$2.8 million.

Vancouver-based Minaean International Corp., a developer of alternative building technologies using light gauge steel, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Minaean Building Solutions Inc., has been awarded a contract in the West Bokaro area in India. The contract, valued at C$150,850, is for the construction of a two-storey building of approximately 5,000 sq. ft. The building will be constructed as an annex to an existing building and will be used as accommodation facilities for officials visiting the West Bokaro Mine areas.

Japan’s Nisshin Flour Milling plans to open its third plant in Canada by 2008. The second plant, which produces 250 tons of flour per day, opened earlier this month in Chilliwack, B.C. The third plant will also be built in Chilliwack and will have equal capacity. Including production at the company’s first plant in Armstrong, B.C., Nisshin will eventually be able to produce nearly 800 tons of flour per day.

Guelph-based Linamar Corporation announced that it has signed an agreement with the North Jeolla province, South Korea, to build a manufacturing facility. The facility, to be built in the Gunsan Free Trade Zone, will manufacture transmission components and modules for the automotive industry. Production at the facility will commence in mid 2007. Linamar designs, develops and manufactures precision machined components, modules and systems for engine, transmission and chassis systems primarily for the North American and European automotive marketplace.

Tokyo’s Mitsui & Co., along with US power generating company Calpine Corp., will build a 50 billion yen (approximately C$575 million) power plant in Ontario that will generate an output of one million kilowatts. Each of the two partners will invest eight million yen (approximately C$92,000) in the facility. The plant, which will operate on natural gas, will be operational by February 2008 to produce electricity for the Ontario market.

Guelph-based Linamar Corporation, which designs, develops and manufactures precision machined components, modules and assemblies for the automotive industry, signed an agreement with the city of Wuxi, in Jiangsu, China. In the agreement, Linamar outlined its plans to build a manufacturing facility in the next year- to 18 months. Linamar has 30 manufacturing facilities in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Europe.