NRW Holdings has been awarded nearly $180 million in contracts as the mining and civil contractor grapples with the fallout from the collapse of One Steel Manufacturing at the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia.
Some $100 million comes from a contract with Rio Tinto for work at its Coastal Water Supply Sustaining Project in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
NRW's wholly owned subsidiary Primero Group will undertake the procurement of structural, mechanical, piping, electrical, and instrumentation components and build the seawater desalination plant at Parker Point, Dampier.
The project is expected to begin immediately and run for approximately 12 months.
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Water from the plant will be transferred to the West Pilbara Water Supply Scheme – owned and operated by Water Corporation – before distribution to Rio's coastal communities and operations.
According to Rio, the first stage of the Dampier Seawater Desalination Plant will provide 4 billion litres of water per year and significantly reduce abstraction from the company's Bungaroo borefield near Pannawonica.
Rio and Water Corporation will then consider the feasibility of a second stage, which would deliver another 4 billion litres a year from 2027.
In addition to the Rio deal, another NRW subsidiary – Action Drill & Blast – has secured two blast hole drilling contracts from Yancoal. Valued at roughly $19 million, the work will be undertaken at Yarrabee and Camby Downs, and run for an estimated 36 months with an option to extend.
Another $60 million comes from a civil works contract with BMA at its Peak Downs mine in Moranbah, Queensland. Awarded to NRW subsidiary Golding Contractors, it includes specialised earthworks, the diversion of a public access road, expansion of an existing spillway, and around 6km of piping.
The contract is due for completion in September this year.
Crisis at Whyalla
According to NRW's half-year results, Golding Contractors is owed more than $113 million by One Steel Manufacturing, which collapsed earlier this year.
Golding is the steel processor's largest single creditor and had been servicing the iron ore mines feeding the Whyalla steelworks – which produces 75% of Australia's structural steel – since 2020.
British businessman Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance originally acquired One Steel, which operates the Whyalla steelworks, in 2017.
However, problems began to appear in early 2024, when molten metal hardened inside the furnace after it cooled too much, which put it out of action from mid-March until July. While this was going on, reports of dwindling hematite resources at the surrounding iron ore mines began to emerge, prompting a suite of redundancies.
The furnace was again shut down in August, with GFG citing a shortage of coking coal, and did not start again until January this year, albeit at half capacity.
All up, hundreds of workers have been stood down, companies servicing Whyalla have cancelled contracts over unpaid bills, and One Steel is thought to be in debt to the tune of at least $300 million.
In an attempt to resolve the crisis, the South Australian Government passed emergency legislation in February to force One Steel into administration.
That same month, KordaMentha was appointed administrator, days before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a $2.4 billion funding package for Whyalla, billed as an "investment in the nation".
