AN extra 20 jobs will be supplied at Newcrest’s Cadia mine after an Orange company was contracted to build an underground concrete roadway.
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Australia Wide Industries Civil and Construction (AWICC), a sister company to Jeff Hort Enterprises, won the chance to complete the three-year contract.
AWICC chairman Jeff Hort said the company formed about four months ago and had at least 20 people to work on the three-year project.
He said a grant from the NSW government’s Central West Jobs Action Plan also helped them with the contract.
“It’s a great day for us, we’ve known about this grant for some time, we’ve spent some of the money to modify the vehicles to help us go underground,” Mr Hort said.
“[The equipment] has to be set up to go underground, it cost us $80,000 and the grant helped us with that.”
Although the final amount has been kept confidential, the government grant was in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Mr Hort said to get the contract both AWICC and Hort Enterprises had to work together, but the project would be worth it for all involved.
“It’s a major contract for us,” he said.
He said the concrete roadwork would improve safety and efficiency for mine vehicles underground, as well as help with vehicle maintenance and reduce wear and tear on tyres which, on some of the larger vehicles, are worth $40,000 each.
Minister for Regional Development, Skills and Small Business John Barilaro said a small Orange company winning the contract was a win for the community.
“The Central West Jobs Action Plan focuses on providing business confidence and investment to infrastructure projects that delivers jobs and stimulates growth into our economy,” he said.
The plan has also supported Simplot to upgrade its Bathurst food processing factory, resulting in the retention of up to 77 jobs, and Granular Products to establish a chemical manufacturing plant at Orange, creating four jobs.
Member for Orange Andrew Gee said the grant and the awarding of the contract to a new, local company, above some of the big players, showed there was still investment taking place despite a challenging economic climate.
“The message is that there’s not all gloom and doom, there’s still growth out there,” he said.
“We’re helping them with the 20 new jobs here in Orange, it’s a significant investment we are making here with AWICC.”
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au
