Global Geotechnical Consulting Success
Put simply, whether you’re in Iran, Spain, Chile or this company’s native home, Australia, ATC Williams, the consulting engineering services company for the construction, infrastructure, mining and resources industries, has the strategic and technical advice to make your project a success. The company has nearly 30 years of experience doing exactly this and offers committed and specialised business groups (the Australian Tailings Group, ATC Williams Geotechnical and ATC Williams Water) with a suite of core services spanning the entire geotechnical consulting range. ATCW has already picked up a flurry of awards including the ACEA—Award of Excellence—Small Firms Award, the Urban Development Institute of Australia (WA Division)—Award for Excellence, and the 3rd Annual Australian Mining Prospect Award for ‘Excellence in Environmental Management for 2006’. The consistent and high quality of work over the years is clear, but we would be remiss to not take a closer look at what makes this company stand out in the field.

The international spread

Amongst its spread between the mining, geotechnical and infrastructure markets, one of the industries where ATCW has proven to particularly excel is mining. “Whilst our core services cover the full range of geotechnical consulting to most areas of the economy including building, commercial development, waste management, etcetera, the majority of our work load is in the mining industry,” Trevor Osborne, ATCW’s Managing Director, tells IRJ.

“In this area, tailings management and the ancillary disciplines are a significant strength of the business.  Tailings management of course involves all of our core services.” In fact, ATCW’s tailings management expertise plays a key part in what Osborne cites to be its market edge and offers a good example of those high standards of project delivery throughout the company’s lifetime.

“We place a very great emphasis on understanding the properties of the tailings to be stored so that we can optimise the management process and in turn minimise the project cost,” Osborne says. “To this end we operate our own testing facility with a range of sophisticated equipment to complete standard and in-house testing.”

Of course, ATCW’s projects, spanning the globe, shed a little more light on just how this company keeps on delivering, beginning with the Sar Cheshmeh Copper project in Iran which ATCW has been working on for some time.

“We have been associated with this project for around eight years now as the mine upgrades from 8 million to over 30 million tonnes per annum,” Osborne says. “A key aspect of the upgrade has been to minimise the water consumption. “

Osborne says that this project, currently under construction, includes major raises to the tailings embankments, a sizeable new water dam and “what will be the largest paste thickener installation in the world.”

“The main tailings dam raise includes an innovative geo-membrane liner on the upstream face and the water dam is to have a bitumen core.  A bitumen core was previously employed on another of our Iranian project at the Miduk copper project.”

Also in Iran, is the Sungun copper project where ATCW has once again enjoyed a long and successful association, working on a major (final height 160 m plus) dam constructed by cyclone discharge of sand tailings.

“We are also currently working on a major copper project in Kazakhstan (our third project in that country).  We have also worked in Chile, Spain, Ireland, Indonesia, Papua and New Guinea and other locations in the Asian Pacific region,” Osborne explains. “This is, of course, in addition to our core business in Australia.”

Looking more closely at the core business, it’s easier to understand how ATCW has been able to broaden its reach to such a range of global locations.

Australia: honing core skills at home

Trying to account for all of ATCW’s successful project involvements back home in Australia would certainly take an entire piece of its own. The company holds successful records in many different sorts of resource plays, including coal, copper, gold, diamonds, base metals, and uranium and mineral sands.
“Mangoola, Century, Sunrise Dam, Angas, Ellendale, Murray Basin mineral sands are just a few of the major projects,” Osborne says. “The Bendigo Mining project in Victoria is in an historic gold field from which huge riches have been extracted in the past.  The current project which saw mining re-started in 2006 is relatively small compared with many others but it is particularly interesting as it is in an urban setting.”

It appears that whether the project is housed amidst an urban environment, or in remote locations anywhere in the world, ATCW can tackle any environment that comes along. Within this, the company remains fiercely committed to minimising any environmental impact its work may have on any given project. Its team of personnel have the expertise to ensure that any potential environmental detail is well-covered, conveyed and understood by all accountable. This level of care and due attention by ATCW personnel is another aspect which really characterises the company.

ATC people, today and tomorrow

“In reality our greatest asset (and in fact our only differentiating asset) is people,” Osborne states. “In recent times our biggest challenge has been finding good people to meet the needs of our clients.  On a technical level, most projects present challenges for us because we are always striving to do it better or cheaper or in a more environmentally friendly way.”

Osborne says that the crucial challenges facing many in the mining industry include environmental issues, water management and minimization of usage. Referring directly to ATCW’s work today, Osborne highlights the need for consummate professionals and the highest order of understanding in tailings properties.

“It is important to gain a good understanding of tailings properties and to adopt a holistic approach to tailings management which includes considering both the processing and storage,” he says. “To this end we find that we are able to be of most assistance to clients when we are involved in projects from the earliest stages of project development.”

With an ever-expanding global presence and firm foundations laid in its many diverse project associations at home, it appears that ATCW might plan to go anywhere from here, but Osborne explains that there are goals marked out amidst the all-round growth already achieved.

“At the present time we have plans to expand or office coverage in Australia and better equip us to service works overseas, including the Middle East and South America,” he says. “We are also taking steps to consolidate our skills in all of our core service areas.”

By building from these core skills and out, then returning to reinforce that original central skill set, ATCW is undeniably a strong and extremely capable vehicle. When it comes to consultancy projects in mining, geotechnical and infrastructure, talk is all very well but the proof is in the project execution. ATCW knows this more than many, and 30 years of excellence are a pretty tough tale to top.

atcwilliams.com.au