Pöyry appointed to deliver EPCM services for concentrating plant expansion project at Kittilä gold mine

Agnico-Eagle Finland Oy has awarded Pöyry a services contract, for the expansion project for the concentrating plant and leaching process at Kittilä gold mine. The contract is for the provision of a total EPCM service and Pöyry will be responsible for project management, engineering and procurement and construction management. The project is an expansion to the existing operational mine. Pöyry also provided engineering and construction management services for the initial development of the existing concentrating plant. Locally, the project will employ around 100 people at the construction stage and 30 people in the concentrating process.

The Agnico-Eagle Kittilä mine is one of the largest known gold deposits in Europe, with a gold reserve of nearly 5 million ounces. Currently, the mine employs 400 people and 180 contractors. The Kittilä mine area contains several open pit deposits and deep-lying ore is excavated from an underground mine. The mine processes 3,000 tons of ore per day, and is expected to produce approximately 150,000 ounces of gold per year. The gold is separated from the ore by pressure leaching. The expansion will increase the production by 25 per cent.

Pöyry has extensive global experience of executing demanding projects. For the mining industry, we deliver consulting, engineering and project services, as well as ongoing operational services for the mine itself. Services include mine feasibility, environmental impact, geology and beneficiation of ore.

The value of the order is not disclosed. The order was recognised within the Industry business group's order stock in Q1/2013.

Finland selects Finnish-Estonian Nortal for new tax system

Finland rejects IBM's "abnormally low" offer for new tax system, and selects Finnish-Estonian Nortal.

The Finnish Tax Administration is reforming their information systems, replacing seventy tax systems with a single one. Selected was the Fast Enterprises’ Gentax taxation software, along with Finnish-Estonian Nortal, who plans to implement the project for €62 million with the overall price of procurement running around €226 million over 15 years.

Also competing in the bid was IBM, whose bid of €38 million with a total value of €143 million over 15 years was rejected. The Finnish Tax Administration was able to do so under the public procurement laws, which says the contracting authority may reject abnormally low tender.

“For us, it is essential that the operational reliability and success of the taxation will be ensured also in the future,” said the Chief Information Officer of the Tax Administration, Markku Heikura.

The story isn't over yet. After being rejected, IBM is appealing the decision to the Finnish Market Court, who may reverse the decision.

Without any real baseline to compare it to, I don't know how to interpret this news other than to shake my head. On one hand, IBM's offer could have been purposefully low to win the contract, and could "discover additional costs" later, or to spit out a shoddy delivery. But at the same time you hear about the insane amounts of money governments pay to build a barely usable website, and you have to ask yourself where they think the baseline is for ICT spending. Take for example California's $2 billion court management system, which was eventually scraped.

Perhaps I'm again showing my naiveté, but since they're just implementing Fast Enterprise's Gentex software, it seems IBM's upfront of €38 million will buy you a moon-shot worth of man hours, even for a difficult problem like reliably putting together seventy tax systems into a new system. But I look at that winning bid and think, man, the number of entrepreneurs that would fund to build an even more badass tax system says  Greg Anderson.

In order to deliver quality results, the Finnish government should be able to reject bids that are too far south. But with the number of clown consultants driving up prices in these ICT procurements, it should be interesting to hear the Tax Authority's reasoning in court.

Source: http://www.arcticstartup.com

Åker Solutions receives contract award notification from Husky

Åker Solutions has received a contract award notification (last 10 May 2013) for offshore engineering services to support Husky Energy's activities at the offshore White Rose field in Canada.

The scope of work includes studies, modifications (EPCI) and campaign maintenance services. The duration is five years with an option to extend the contract for as many as 10 one-year periods.

The estimated contract value is NOK 900 million for the five-year period.

"We are delighted that Husky has chosen us as their preferred partner for offshore engineering services at the White Rose field," says Tore Sjursen, head of maintenance, modifications and operations at Aker Solutions. "Our presence in North America is increasing and the award will be a good foundation for further growth in Canada."

The project will employ about 70 management and engineering employees onshore, as well as 20 people on rotation offshore.

The White Rose field is located 350 kilometres southeast of St. John's, Canada, and consists of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

Source: Reuters

Report of Confidence Indicators (March 2013) from the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK.

The Confederation of Finnish Industries released the report of Confidence Indicators for March, 2013.

Finnish manufacturing confidence stayed unchanged in March. However, the confidence indicator is clearly below its long-term average. The latest indicator figure is -9 (revised figure -9 in February, too). Its long-term average is +3. Production growth is expected to be weak in the coming months. Order books are well below their normal levels. Stocks of final goods have decreased somewhat but they are still slightly above average.

Construction confidence recovered somewhat but is still rather weak. The confidence indicator scored -22 points (revised figure -27 in February). Confidence is well below its long-term average (-6). Order books are smaller than average and personnel is expected to decrease during the next few months.

Service sector confidence indicator climbed to +4 points in March from 0 points in February. Despite the increase, confidence is rather weak as its long-term average is +15. Sales growth gained a little speed in March but only moderate growth figures are forecast for the next few months. The overall business situation has deteriorated further in the first quarter.

Finnish retail trade confidence indicator scored -7 points in March, down from -3 in February. The long-term average is 0 points. Sales growth became negative and expectations for the next quarter are also fairly weak.

Source:
Confederation of Finnish Industries EK

KONE elevators to ease flow of people in Delhi Metro network

KONE has won an order for 143 KONE MonoSpace ® elevators to be installed at stations in the third phase of the Delhi Metro network extension in Northern India. 

The contract follows previous orders for 395 elevators and 75 escalators in the first two phases of the expansion of the Delhi Metro.

The new order includes 70 stainless steel elevators with glass doors and a further 73 elevators with stainless steel doors. Braille buttons and a voice announcement system are included to improve accessibility for all passengers while elevator mirrors ease accessibility for wheelchair users. The vandal-proof elevators also feature additional door photo-sensors, fire-rated glass and fire retardant low smoke cables to maximize passenger safety.

"We have a long-standing relationship with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and we understand the passenger requirements in the public transport sector. This has helped us provide the best possible solutions for the Delhi Metro, and we are delighted to continue our involvement in this, the third phase of the project," said Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director for KONE India.

KONE has been involved in the Delhi Metro extension project from the start, and the third phase is currently under Indian government construction. Once completed, the network will be some 330 kilometres long.

The Delhi Metro, which aims to cover the whole of India's second-most populous metropolis by 2021, has operated since 2002, bringing relief to the city's congested transport network. To address the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's environmental considerations, the ordered machine-room-less KONE elevators include ecologically sound features such as energy-saving regenerative drives, LED lighting and low energy consuming motors.

Source: www.kone.com

Northern Europe takes first step for a fully integrated European energy market

A strong regional integration of the energy markets in Northern Europe is the first step towards a fully integrated European market. This should urgently be speeded up by delivering the necessary investment in energy infrastructure and power generation. This was the main message from the north European energy industry on the North European Energy Dialogue Business Meeting in Brussels today.

With this starting point a strong  group of representatives from the northern European energy industry shipped a clear message to the North European Ministers before their North European Energy Dialogue in Copenhagen Wednesday 21st of November. The discussion about creating a strong regional integration of energy markets in Northern Europe is the first important step in making a fully integrated European energy market.

- The European energy industry is facing major challenges the coming years due to replacement of a vast number of aging power stations and massive investments in grids. We have to create an integrated European market, but to do so we have to facilitate the right conditions for investing in generation capacity and energy infrastructure. And we have to act now. Energy systems whether infrastructure or generation take years to build and are in operation for decades. 2020 is just around the corner and reducing the regulatory risk is crucial to secure the needed investments, says Lars Aagaard, CEO of Danish Energy Association.

He emphasizes that it is a huge challenge to integrate all the markets in Europe simultaneously, but points out that the Northern European countries in this respect have a strong foundation to build on to pave the way for the rest of Europe.

- Despite the economic crisis, investments in modernising our energy system are needed. Therefore the energy industry warmly welcomes the NEED-initiatives taken by Martin Lidegaard, Minister for Climate,  Energy and Building. But there is an urgent need to focus on common solutions and avoid inward looking national policies. We need an internal energy market without price regulation, with a true market coupling and open and equal access to all transmission grids with no capacity restriction.  Clarity about the future investment in power generation through an agreement on a long-term policy framework will be an important starting point to maintain a high security of supply and affordable energy prices. Furthermore, this will send the necessary long-term price signal to investors , says Mr. Aagaard.

Source: The Danish Energy Association

Record-high electricity generation from Vattenfall

Despite a challenging year for the energy sector Vattenfall presents a stable 2012 full year underlying operating profit for comparable units. Vattenfall will continue to streamline its operations, strengthen its financial position while maintaining its focus on sustainability.

Figures for year 2012 were:

• Net sales for 2012 decreased by 7.6% to SEK 167,313 million (181,040). For comparable units sales increased by 2%.
• The underlying operating profit decreased by 9.9% to SEK 27,747 million (30,793). The underlying operating profit for comparable units decreased by 1.6%.
• Reported operating profit rose 12.8% to SEK 26,175 million (23,209). Profit for 2011 was affected by net charges of SEK -7.6 billion. Profit for 2012 was affected by capital gains, impairment losses and other items affecting comparability amounting to SEK -1.6 billion, net.
• Profit for the year (after tax) rose 65.4% to SEK 17,224 million (10,416), of which the reduced corporate income tax rate in Sweden contributed SEK 3.5 billion.
• Electricity generation increased by 7.3% in 2012, to 178.9 TWh (166.7). 2012 was record year for Vattenfall’s electricity generation.
• The Board proposes a dividend of SEK 6,774 million, corresponding to 40% of profit for the year after tax. The dividend for 2011 was SEK 4,433 million.

Source: Vattenfall press release