TORONTO – A major new subsidiary of Bird Construction (TSX:BDT) has been awarded a $100-million contract to remove waste rock from ArcelorMittal’s Mount Wright iron mine near Fermont, Que.
The contract was awarded to H.J. O’Connell Ltd., which Bird acquired this summer for $77.5 million.
The deal nearly doubled the size of Bird’s staff workforce and helped the Toronto-based company expand into new geographic territories and market segments.
“This contract award is an early indication that our investment in H.J. O’Connell will produce the results that we anticipated when evaluating the acquisition,” Tim Talbott, Bird’s president and chief executive, said in Thursday’s announcement.
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“With this project, O’Connell continues to demonstrate their capabilities as a leading surface mining contractor.”
H.J. O’Connell, which has 600 craft and staff employees, is involved in heavy construction, civil construction and surface mining. It has operations in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Manitoba.
Prior to the acquisition, Bird had 700 employees on staff and offices in Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Vancouver and Manitoba.
The work at Mount Wright will begin this fall and be completed by the spring of 2015, Bird said.
Bird shares closed at $10.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up 33 cents, before the deal was announced Thursday.
ArcelorMittal Mining Canada, a subsidiary of the world’s largest steelmaker, employs about people at the Mount Wright mining complex, which includes an open pit mine, ore crusher and concentrator.
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