Emeco turns to hard rock amid coal slump

This includes both open cut and underground operations, particularly in Western Australia, with Emeco expecting it to boost its gold revenue from 12 per cent in the first half of this year to 38 per cent in the same period next year.

However, Emeco reiterated its commitment to the coal sector, stating that coal would remain a key element of its business.

“As the coal industry evolves away from Tier 1 miners, we believe our business model of providing cost effective equipment supported by a strong maintenance capability will be attractive to the new owners of coal assets in Australia,” Emeco managing director Ian Testrow told the company’s annual general meeting.

Despite this commitment, coal will take up an increasingly reduced portion of Emeco’s revenue as the company aims to slash the proportion of its revenue attributed to coal by almost half (from 65 per cent in the 2019 fiscal year to 35 per cent after 2020).

Testrow said the company’s acquisition of Pit N Portal had allowed it to widen its service.

Emeco entered hard rock underground mining services through the acquisition earlier this year.

“We are now winning projects that were beyond the capabilities under the old Emeco, in turn opening up further opportunities for the core business,” he said.

“Pit N Portal is performing strongly, supported by the previously announced Mincor nickel project commencing early.

“We are also excited by the award of the Red 5 Great Western project, the first open cut mining services project in Pit N Portal’s history, with Pit N Portal and Emeco rental joining forces.”

Emeco has also developed the Emeco Operating System (EOS) technology to provide real-time information to maximise production from mining assets.

Installation has been delivered to Emeco’s new rental operations, with updates provided to existing customers.